Major Bilston drugs bust as police swoop on one of biggest cannabis factories ever found in region

Dozens of officers from more than five West Midlands police organisations loaded into vans at around 8.30am on Wednesday to carry out the raid on industrial units on Reliance trading estate on Livingstone Road.

Residents on Chem Road, Stanley Place and Stom Road were awoken as officers in protective uniforms surrounded the unit just metres from their houses.

Stihl circular saws were used to breach the building's entrances; all the while, screaming for possible inhabitants to "get on the floor!".

On entry to the unit, more than 10 rooms filled with cannabis plants were uncovered - with a street value of potentially one million pounds.

After breaching the unit, officers discovered one man, who quickly darted onto the roof of the building, beginning a 30-minute stand-off with police as they tried to coax him down.

After almost half an hour of anxiously waiting for the man to leave the roof, the suspect dropped down into the hands of police, who quickly ushered him into a waiting van for questioning.

Over five policing groups joined forces to execute the warrant, including officers from the Bilston Policing Team, the Operational Support Unit, the Dog Unit and the Serious Organised Crime and Exploitation Team (SOCEX).

The operation was a scene of professionalism by the police, who secured the surrounding area and utilised two thermal imaging capable drones to monitor the situation from above. However, what they saw inside the building shocked them.

One of the officers said "it could possibly be slave labour", after he saw a single plate, filled with only an orange, a single banana and a small disposable sauce tub of water.

As teams moved into the building, the scenes became even more shocking.

As the officers moved aside a plastic drape covering a hidden entrance, they were greeted with the first smell of cannabis and the sight of the living quarters that the growers were forced to use.

Those inside were told to "keep away from the walls" on entering the building, due to them being covered in wires, plugs, extension leads and a range of other electrical devices.

Scenes of squalor filled the main living quarters where a cooking station, a cleaning facility, a range of coats and four beds were tightly packed together, only fuelling officers' estimations of the possibility of forced labour.

As officers entered the hallways of the building, a network of intricate corridors, each one with walls adorned with plugs and transformers, and each wall being connected to at least one extra room filled with countless cannabis plants were seen.

Chief Inspector Kelly Monaghan told the Express & Star about the severity of the drugs operation.

She said: "We are here this morning in Bilston where we executed a drugs warrant on a number of factory units and discovered an extremely large cannabis grow and we have one person in custody.

"We discovered a number of factory units with extensive wiring throughout, there are a number of segregated areas where we have some mature cannabis plants and some areas where we have seeds.

"There is a whole set-up to supply to a very high extent. We also discovered that people have been living here, there are makeshift beds, food and a washing machine, and lots of clothing, it is obvious that someone has been living here and maintaining these plants."

The operation was deemed a success by the West Midlands Police, who have yet to put an estimated price on the total number of plants, however, possible estimations are up to one million.

Chief Inspector Monaghan continued: "The focus this time is on serious youth violence, but this is bigger than that, we get drug set-ups such as this that often have young people involved, there are young people dealing the drugs, and obviously you have trafficking issues as well.

"There has been a number of teams involved in this, we have had various neighbourhood policing teams, there has been Socex, there are gangs teams, CID, we have also had force resources, dogs units and traffic.

"Operations of this scale mean we have to pool those resources together to successfully execute them. It's an excellent result that we have seen today and it is one of a number of activities taking place in Wolverhampton this afternoon."

The warrant formed an important part of West Midlands Police's Operation Advance, which looks to fight youth violence and a matter other issues at a local level, with West Midlands Police also taking to local schools to talk about the dangers of youth knife violence.