Police uncover £500,000 drugs farm after being called to Doncaster burglary

When we got to the scene on Wellgate, at around midnight on Wednesday June 9. we found the property unlocked, and inside were around 500 cannabis plants.

Whoever had broken in had run away, and we are now investigating who had been growing them.

There were five large rooms filled with the plants.

That number of plants, all seized, represents around £500,000 taken out of the hands of criminals.

It is not the first time we have stumbled across cannabis cultivations in that sort of circumstances.

Something similar happened on May 17, in Bentley. That time, someone had reported a house door left open. We went to check it out and found 21 cannabis plants inside.

But neither were as big as the 2,200 cannabis plants seized at the former Empire Bingo building in Mexborough on May 18. Two people were arrested, and the investigation continues.

Dealing with drug crime has kept us busy over the last month.

On Monday morning, June 7, we carried out a stop and search on a man on High Street, Mexborough. He was found to be carrying a significant amount of class A drugs, and over £3,000 cash. He was arrested for possession with intent to supply.

One the same day, another stop and search at Garden Street, Mexborough, revealed a man had a small wrap of suspected cocaine. We felt the best way to deal with his case was to refer him to a drug intervention programme, because of his background.

Conisbrough saw a stop and search arrest for drugs on Station Road on May 26; and a warning was given after a search of a car on Denaby Avenue on May 27. A small quantity of drugs and £2,000 cash was seized after a raid on a house on March Vale Rise on June 7.

And a woman was arrested after a significant quantity of class A drugs was found in a raid on a house on Caxton Road, Adwick, on May 25.

Meanwhile, with lockdown easing, we are planning to get back to meeting people at local drop-in events. We will be posting details locally and on social media.

In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a subscription or buying a paper. We stand together. Liam Hoden, editor.