Cannabis farms yield £8m of seizures in past 5 years

Across Scotland, police recovered almost 153,000 plants worth a total of £46m from nearly 350 separate cannabis farms. Altogether, 43 arrests were made in connection with the raids.

Strathclyde had the highest concentration of the illegal crop, but last year, there were more raids in the Lothian and Borders force area. Officers staged 21 raids in the Edinburgh area, seizing cannabis worth £1.7m.

Police can spot cannabis farms using heat-sensing cameras or through tip-offs.

Detective Chief Superintendent Stephen Whitelock, head of intelligence at the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, said: “Our intelligence suggests Scotland is increasingly used by criminal gangs as a ‘drying out’ area for cannabis plants grown elsewhere in the UK.”