Cannabis farms thriving on Britain's ghost high streets, warn police

DRUG gangs are exploiting ghosttown high streets by converting empty shots into "larger scale" cannabis factories, warn police chiefs.

- Michael Knowles

Criminals are targeting empty cafes, pubs, office blocks, bingo halls and nightclubs to ramp up the production of illegal substances.

The organised crime gangs rely on a lack of activity in high streets, the National Police Chiefs' Council says.

And the gangsters can cram more specialist lighting and equipment needed to grow cannabis plants into shops than in a house.

Insulation

Chief Constable Richard Lewis, the NPCC drugs lead, said: "Large scale shops have closed down and therefore the footprint to produce cannabis on a larger scale scale becomes available.