Thousands of pounds worth of cannabis plants were discovered in a secret room in a seemingly-ordinary house in Darlaston earlier today.

The find was made during a series of police raids targeting drug operations and people with outstanding court fines.

In the first of the raids at 7.40am, 10 cannabis plants worth £3,000, were found in the secret cubby hole behind a fake wall and door in a ground-floor maisonette in Park Street, Darlaston.

A man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of the cultivation of cannabis and is now in police custody.

Other raids took place to crackdown on people with unpaid fines for offences including criminal damage, theft and driving matters.

Officers went door-to-door asking people to pay up or be taken into custody and hauled before magistrates.

A total of 12 people were arrested for non-payment of fines in Bloxwich, Darlaston and Moxley. In total, they owed £25,000. One was a 43-year-old woman who had not paid back £7,600 from a benefit fraud.

The doorstep raids were part of Operation Crackdown, led by Sgt Helen Carver, who said: “Numerous letters have been sent to these people and invites to a fines surgery — they have ignored them several times. They have been given many chances.”