GARDENING equipment used to grow about £150,000 worth of cannabis is now having a more positive impact on the community.
Cheshire Police officers seized plant pots, tools and soil - alongside dozens of cannabis plants - during a drugs raid at an address in Ullswater Road, Handforth.
Rather than destroy all of the equipment, officers in Wilmslow decided equipment could be used for good and reached out to the Wilmslow Community Market Garden, who gladly accepted the donation of equipment to their garden.
And on May 31, Wilmslow beat team officers and Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire John Dwyer visited the community market to hand over the equipment.
PCSO Gareth Harding, of Macclesfield Local Policing Unit, said: "We understand the negative impact illegal drug use and supply can have in our local areas, so we hope by donating this equipment to the local community garden here in Wilmslow, we are able to give something back to the community.
"The property in question contained a large number of cannabis plants and a sophisticated set up, bypassing electricity to maximise the amount of class B drugs being cultivated.
"A seizure on this scale is a fantastic result and is testament to our officers' hard work in tackling this kind of activity."
The Wilmslow Community Market Garden, which is part of Transition Wilmslow, has four food-growing gardens across Wilmslow and aims to provide locally sourced food to the wider community.
PCC John Dwyer, who has previously provided funding to the market garden, said: “It’s great to see the local officers offering the gardening equipment to a community group.
"What initially could have been used to blight society will now be used with the right intentions.
"In my Police and Crime Plan, tackling drug supply is a key priority for me and it’s great to see the team in Wilmslow have disrupted this supply, and the wider community have benefitted as a whole."
Two males who were inside the property at the time of the raid were arrested and pleaded guilty to the production of class B drugs (cannabis). They have been remanded in custody for sentencing.
Anyone with information in relation to the supply of illegal drugs is asked to contact Cheshire Police on 101 or can give the details via cheshire.police.uk/contact/general-enquiries or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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