The widespread problem of rented accommodation being used by criminals to cultivate cannabis plants continues with buy to let landlords having to pick up the bill for the destruction left behind.

A landlord in Walton, Surrey, became concerned recently when he was unable to contact his tenants. He went round to his property and found around 200 cannabis plants in each room and growing equipment.

The electricity supply had also been tampered with.
The tenants, who were described as being of Asian origin, had been in the property for six weeks.

In Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, a 33-year-old man who had rented out a house has been arrested and bailed after police officers uncovered a ‘sophisticated cannabis cultivation set-up’ in the property.

Thames Valley Police confirmed that the house had suffered extensive damage.

In Worcestershire a man who had rented three different houses was discovered to be the front man for a group of Vietnamese criminals who were using the properties to grow cannabis.

Ian Lewis, aged 25, of Macdonald Close, Tividale, West Midlands, arranged the rentals by using someone else’s driving licence and bank documents as identification. However, Worcester Crown Court accepted that he did not know about the cannabis factories. He was jailed for 16 months after pleading guilty to eight charges of fraud.

Lewis had used the documents to take out a hire purchase agreement on a £48,000 Audi as well as arranging rentals in Mustow Green, near Kidderminster, Redditch and Wolverhampton.

As a result of the investigation two Vietnamese men were arrested and jailed for eight months by Kidderminster magistrates before being deported.

Another cannabis factory has recently been found in an exclusive detached five-bedroomed rented property on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.

Two men were arrested and charged after a police raid on the property uncovered 300 cannabis plants with a street value estimated at around £150,000.