Police have 'smashed cannabis factories with a value of almost £8m' as part of an aggressive crackdown on organised crime gangs over the last 15 months.
The Daily Echo can reveal that more than 40 illegal operations have been dismantled in Southampton over 2022 and the first few months of this year.
The drug is being grown on an industrial scale putting city residents and the victims of modern-day slavery in danger, as attested in court cases and by police.
In recent years the farms have been linked to a violent kidnapping, properties gutted by fire, an unsolved death and human trafficking.
Hampshire police have recorded 635 cannabis production offences across the county between January 2019 and the end of 2022.
The data, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOI) request by the Echo, shows that 179 of these were in the Southampton district - 28 per cent.
There were 43 offences recorded in Southampton in 2022 alone, and across Hampshire, 133.
But why are there so many operations across Southampton?
The Echo interviewed the deputy district commander for the city, Chief Inspector Marcus Kennedy, who says 34 factories were dismantled in 2022, and nine this year.
The combined value of these illegal enterprises for 2022 was £6.5m, and for January and February 2023, £1.4m.
Why are there so many cannabis factories in Southampton?
CI Kennedy says there are numerous industrial locations in Southampton, many of which are vacant, that offer opportunities for gangs.
Factories in these industrial areas are less likely to be detected than in residential areas.
However, he says police have 'smashed more cannabis factories in Southampton than anybody else' and that is why we are seeing more.
"We're being really aggressive in dismantling them, more so than probably other parts of the county and neighbouring counties," he said.
When asked if this approach could push the problem elsewhere, he said 'potentially', but 'my remit is to look after the people of Southampton'.
He said: “If I make Southampton a non-comfortable place for people to come to grow their cannabis on [a] large scale, that's my job and I'm happy with that."
Who is growing cannabis?
The senior officer says that 'quite often when police go in on a warrant or other powers, the people they find inside are predominantly vulnerable individuals'.
These include foreign nationals who have been trafficked into the UK 'specifically to be farmers'.
He warns there is a 'large element of really well-organised factories' involving gangs from the 'western Balkans in the city and probably across the country' which Hampshire police and the National Crime Agency target.
They were trafficked to the country before being told to work in a Southampton cannabis factory until their £25k debt was paid. https://t.co/1Kg2ltAqru
— Timothy Edgley (@DailyEcho_Tim) December 22, 2022
These gangs 'do not want to outlay cost to pay people to [do] the work' so they 'bring people in'.
Furthermore, those 'up the ladder' are not inside the factories but could be 'all over the country and not necessarily working in this country'.
What is a cannabis factory?
CI Kennedy says cannabis factories take a 'huge amount of effort and expertise to set it up'.
They contain anything between '20 and 1,000 plants'.
The equipment that goes into them is 'significant' and may include hydroponics, lighting, and soil.
Water and electricity will sometimes be bypassed from the main supply.
Where is it being sold?
According to CI Kennedy, if you go back 15 [or] 20 years, the majority of cannabis was resin, and imported.
But now, 'the majority of the cannabis in the country is grown locally' in the UK.
He said: "Those organised crimes gangs will grow large scale and then it will be farmed out to be distributed, whether that's regionally or nationally."
How can landlords stop cannabis factories?
The Chief Inspector warns landlords that it is an 'offence to allow their property to be used for the cultivation or production of cannabis or any drug'.
"My pitch to any landlord is really be conscious of when people come to you and say, 'we'd like to pay six months rent in advance.'"
Deeming this a 'red flag', he says they have a legal obligation to know who their tenants are and what their property is going to be used for.
"If your name pops up a couple of times… then we're going to start thinking why.
“If you're going to bow down to letting organised crime through your door, you've got to think about the modern-day slavery, abstraction of electricity and human trafficking element,” he said.
Why are police raiding cannabis factories?
‘Welcome to Southampton: Cannabis factories everywhere.’
It’s a joke circulating on social media.
However, CI Kennedy stresses 'it's not just a bit of cannabis'.
Simply put, he says 'it's not legal in this country. And that's how police work, from the confines of the law'.
And, that abstracting electricity near a 'vulnerable location, whether it's a hospital or care home or a school' is 'very, very, dangerous' and 'hence why there have been fires' in Southampton.
A previous Echo probe revealed that Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service crews were called to incidents at ten cannabis factories between 2019 and 2022.
Concerning modern-day slavery, he says victims are being taken from their homes in other countries, brought to the UK under duress, in containers or other ways and forced to work in factories.
"That's abhorrent, in my view,” he said.
Residents are urged to report their concerns about drug production to the police so officers can build an intelligence picture.
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