A former Walsall sandwich shop was being used as a front for a cannabis factory filled with more than 1,000 plants.
The huge haul discovered by police yesterday is one of the biggest ever found in the West Midlands.
Officers smashed their way into the former Big Bites shop in Hart Street, Caldmore, where they found row upon row of plants and bright lights wired up to help the cultivation process. The exact value of the cannabis seized is not yet known but police said it would add up to thousands of pounds.
Sgt Richard Jacques, from the Caldmore and Palfrey Neighbourhood Police team, said they raided the shop after a tip-off from members of the community.
He said: “There were six rooms and every single one was full of plants in different stages of growth. This was a substantial find as it appears we caught the plants just before they hit the streets.”Two men, aged 49 and 43, were arrested at the premises on suspicion of cultivating cannabis.
It was initially unsafe for police to go inside the building because of crude electrics which were dangerously and illegally rigged up.
Engineers from e.on were called to cut off the electricity supply and officers removed all the plants.
They also filled three skips with electrical equipment and a van made several trips to take the cannabis plants away.
Stunned neighbours in Hart Street watched as plants filled the streets.
Resident Barry Sullivan said: “You just never know what is going on behind closed doors these days.
“It is unbelievable to think it could have been here all that time.”
It is the second drugs bust in two weeks in Walsall. Firefighters stumbled on another cannabis factory while out on a call last week.
Hundreds of cannabis plants were discovered at a terraced home in Darlaston Road, near James Bridge, following reports of a fire in an electrical cupboard.
Equipment to help the plants grow was also recovered. No arrests were made.
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