POLICE raided a cannabis factory in North Swindon on Friday following an investigation in Haydon End.

Police were alerted to a possible cannabis factory after a passer by reported distinctive-smelling smoke.

They also reported that the windows had been blacked out.

Officers broke into the one-bedroom flat in Rysy Court and seized around 40 plants which had been harvested and dried.

They also discovered a bucket brimming with prepared cannabis buds.

Police also confiscated the illegal drug paraphanalia and equipment. The property was then boarded up.

Nobody was arrested at the scene and police are continuing to investigate.

Only two months ago police seized more than £75,000 in street value of cannabis plants in a quiet road in Covingham after neighbours reported that the property was unlived in but had regular visitors.

Police said without the support of the public these sorts of crimes would not be discovered.

Stefan Watts, beat manager for Covingham and Nythe who led the raid in December, said: “This sort of operation could be found anywhere in the town, and without information from the public we would not have known about the use of this property.”