South Yorkshire Police raided a house on Maltravers Road where they found a cannabis farm with roughly 170 cannabis plants.

On Thursday 21st November, officers used forced entry into the house, seized the plants and later destroyed them. The plants have an estimated street value of approximately £170,000.

Inspector Katie Hammond, who leads the neighbourhood policing team in South East Sheffield, said: “Cultivations like the one we have found help to fund the illegal and extremely harmful activities of organised crime groups. 

“We’ll continue to work to dismantle cannabis farms and bring those who think they’re above the law to justice.”

Inspector Hammond has also higlighted the fire hazard that cannabis farms pose to the surrounding neighbourhood.

Insp. Hammond said: “A common misconception around cannabis farms is that they pose relatively low risk to the community. This is not true.

“Homes housing cannabis farms carry a serious fire risk as the electricity is often bypassed in an attempt to hide what is really going on inside.”

South Yorkshire Police have urged citizens to look out for signs to help them in their fight against drugs. 

Clues for a cannabis farm include: a powerful and sickly aroma coming from a property, frequent visitors to a home at all times of the day, noise that sounds like it’s being generated by fans, and unusual adaptations such as lots of wiring coming from a building.

You can report crime online to SYP here or by calling 101. They also ask anyone with further information about the cultivation on Thursday to contact them quoting incident number 189 of 21 November.