Busted: £500k drugs haul found in Brierley Hill

Police discovered 1,000 plants in a raid on the former We Love Carers premises.

It is one of the biggest recent hauls of drugs found by West Midlands Police's cannabis disposal team.

The team seized £2 million worth of the class B drug grown at sites across the West Midlands in July alone.

Officers smashed into the premises, in Pearson Street, near Asda supermarket, at around 1am on Tuesday morning.

Around 1,000 plants were discovered in various stages of growth at the building, close to Brierley Hill High Street.

Investigations are still on ongoing after the police raid in the early hours.

It is thought the building was at risk of sparking a major fire due to the cannabis factory operation with wiring and growing equipment packed inside.

Cannabis plants, some measuring five to six ft tall, were grown in pots in what was once the function room of the club.

Large lighting rigs and ventilation fans towered over the plants in the room - alongside the club's former glitterball over what was the dance floor.

The room had been used by the charity for exhibitions and fundraising nights and events.

The main building was converted for offices and a community cafe where carers could meet for support groups.

The charity started out as Insight for Carers before it changed its name. The premises were known as Insight House.

A spokesperson for the charity confirmed it had moved out of the site in April and has been hosting sessions elsewhere.

It had previously been home to Brierley Hill Labour Club.

Mike Hall from West Midlands Police's cannabis team said they were pleased to have stopped these drugs hitting the streets of the Black Country.

"This is early stages at the moment and investigations are ongoing," he said.

"The information came in from a vigilant member of the public.

"The building was also a very real fire risk with bypassed electricity feeding over a kilometre of improvised circuitry.

"This type of criminal cannabis grow feeds wider crime.

"In this case we have taken away a very substantial investment by the criminals to set up the grow and more importantly prevented half a million plus pounds going in to the pockets of dishonest people who would without doubt use that money to fund other criminal activity such as human trafficking and class A drugs."