More than 7,000 plants counted so far at huge cannabis factory at former casino in Northampton town centre – arrested man charged and named
More than 7,000 plants have been counted so far at a huge cannabis factory discovered by police at a former casino in Northampton town centre.
At about 9am on Thursday October 30, Northampton’s Neighbourhood Policing Team forced entry into the former Aspers casino building in Northampton town centre and found thousands of cannabis plants across multiple floors.
Police have called it “one of the biggest cannabis factories in the county’s history”.
Just over 24 hours after the discovery, Northamptonshire Police has confirmed that so far the crop stands at 7,000 plants. They are yet to give an estimated street value of the crop because they are still counting up all of the plants.
A 36-year-old man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of cultivating cannabis. He has now been charged and is due to appear before Northampton Magistrates’ Court on Friday October 31.
Police have named him as Mantas Pipiras, of no fixed address, and has been charged with one count of produce a controlled drug of Class B- cannabis.
Neighbourhood Policing Inspector - Nic Davis-Lyons, said: “First of all, I’d like to thank our local community for providing us with the intelligence we needed to secure this warrant and take down this criminal enterprise.
“The neighbourhood policing team have made a huge effort over the past six months to be more visible and engaged in the town and when we receive intelligence like this, we try to develop it as quickly as possible, in order to act swiftly.
“Obviously, we’re really pleased to get this amount of drugs off the streets, but there’s another side to it that we need to focus on. A production on this scale involves a lot of organisation, and there will be an organised crime group behind it. Quite often, they traffic and exploit people into operations like this, probably under threat of violence, and that’s a side people don’t often see.
“This isn’t just about cannabis or seizing drugs - it’s about identifying and targeting those who cause harm, exploit vulnerable people, and use them in operations like this.
“Work continues to dismantle the setup and I am grateful to the local community and businesses in the area for their patience, as well as our Intelligence colleagues and specialist officers who were invaluable today.”