Firefighters called to a routine blaze at a Black Country house stumbled on a drugs den upstairs.
Neighbours living in Leslie Road, Park Village, Wolverhampton, today spoke of their shock at finding out the seemingly normal house was a cannabis factory. The blaze started in the lounge, which contained bunk beds as the upstairs of the property was devoted to growing the drug.
Firefighters believe an electrical fault was to blame.
One neighbour, who did not want to be named, said her family had lived in the street for 23 years and had no idea the house was being used as a drugs den.
She said: “I’m completely shocked. I just can’t believe it. You hear about this sort of thing in the news but you never think it will happen in your area, let alone your street,” she continued.
“We had absolutely no idea this was going on. People have lived in this street for years and years and they will be so shocked when they find out.”
The fire ravaged the lounge of the house, leaving it a blackened shell with no glass in the windows.
There was no-one at home when it broke out.
Police do not know the exact number of cannabis plants discovered as forensic tests are still on going but there were at least 60.
Sgt Mark Bates, of Wolverhampton police, said that the fire, which happened at around midday on Saturday, was was extinguished within an hour.
It is the latest cannabis factory to be discovered in the Black County in the past few months.
Around 700 plants were unearthed by police at a semi-detached house in West Bromwich Road, The Delves, Walsall, last week.
And nearly 500 plants were also found at addresses in Stourbridge Road, Dudley, and Springfields Road, in Brierley Hill.
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