[420 Girl]

POLICE found cannabis plants worth more than GBP10,000 when they raided a flat in a sheltered accommodation block for elderly people in Southampton.

Two police cars and a lorry arrived at Coronation Homes sheltered accommodation in Meon Court, Harefield, at about 10am yesterday.

Four officers accompanied by representatives from Southern Electric and Southampton City Council knocked on the door and went into the first-floor flat.

A man in his 70s was arrested as a result of the raid in which 31 plants and extensive equipment were seized from the loft. He was later released on police bail.

Sgt Vanessa Ford, of Bitterne police, commented: "Finding this kind of thing at an old people's home is clearly very unusual.

"This is not a cannabis factory on the scale we sometimes see but we have seized a lot of equipment including fans and lamps."

She said the police executed a warrant and searched the flat, at which point they immediately arrested the man and took him to a waiting car.

Neighbour Carol Chercher, 49, said: "We realised something was going on when we saw two police cars waiting at the back of the street and suddenly come round together with a lorry.

"They got out and disappeared into the flat and then we saw them taking lots of plants out.

"A little while later they brought the man out and put him into a police car.

"I couldn't believe it, it's normally so quiet around here."

Another neighbour Carol Haines, 53, said: "It was almost hilarious to see the police raid an old people's home.

Everyone in the street was out watching.

We used to see lots of people calling at his flat and he would often be heading out at unusual times."

A Southampton City Council spokesman said: "I can confirm that we have been helping police with a drugs operation in relation to Meon Court, one of our sheltered housing blocks."

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