gair rhydd y Monday December 8st 2014 | freeword | Issue 1040
In this week’s issue: What happens to your body when you eat a christmas dinner, News Year’s Eve hype, BUCS results, the Autumn Statement in brief, and a summary of this year’s world news
Police weed out Cathays drug factories • Police raid three cannabis factories in two days
Georgia Hamer Olivier van den Bent-Kelly Anna Lewis
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• PLUS: Students conned by “deaf-mute” scam (page 6)
hree cannabis factories were discovered by police last week in a series of raids undertaken by local police. At approximately 2pm on December 4th, police surrounded 24 and 26 Glynrhondda Street, and had cleared the scene by 6pm. A black police vehicle, thought to be an armed response unit, was also at the scene, located just a stone’s throw from the Students’ Union. The next day, police were forced to batter down a plywood barrier to gain access to a separate factory on Miskin
Street, less than 100 yards away from the sites on Glynrhondda Street. Police revealed to Gair Rhydd that residents of the Glynrhondda properties had illegally by-passed their electric meter. Western Power were called to the scene before police were able to enter the property to ensure officers were not in danger of electrocution. Once it was confirmed that the properties were safe to enter, police began removing the plants and growing equipment from the two three-storey houses.
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An officer reportedly stated that the Glynrhondda properties contained the biggest haul of cannabis they had ever come across in Cardiff. The removal took place over a period of two hours. Students watched on as officers loaded large bags of cannabis and in excess of 50 lamps into a rental van outside the property. A search advisor at the scene detailed the procedure, informing Gair Rhydd that the property would be stripped and search for prints. A selection of the plants and equipment would be taken
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to a lab for further investigation and the remainder destroyed. Police reportedly discovered the Glynrhondda factory late on Wednesday night whilst following up a separate enquiry. Speaking to Gair Rhydd, neighbours and students of Cardiff University commented that they had heard a lot of noise in the area at around 3am but had assumed it was “just drunk students getting in to trouble after a night out”. They were shocked to hear the true nature of the investigation.
Pictured: The police raid in progress (Photographer: Sum Sze Tam)
Continued on page 6
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