Police seize £130m worth of cannabis in UK-wide crackdown

More than 180,000 plants were discovered in raids across England and Wales in June.

Officers also seized 20 firearms, £636,000 in cash and 20kg of cocaine, with a potential street value of £1m.

The operation has been described as the "most significant" of its kind ever run across UK law enforcement.

Operation Mille targeted what law enforcement believe is a cash cow for organised crime gangs (OCGs) who are also involved in other offences such as money laundering, Class A drug smuggling and violence.

Cannabis is a Class B drug, not Class A like heroin or cocaine, but large-scale cannabis cultivation is seen as a key source of illicit income for criminal gangs.

The aim of the month-long operation was to disrupt OCGs by taking out a key source of their revenue, apprehending those involved and gathering intelligence on how the networks operate.

Steve Jupp, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) lead for Serious and Organised Crime, said the operation had "successfully disrupted a significant amount of criminal activity".

"We know that organised networks involved in cannabis production are also directly linked to an array of other serious criminality such as Class A drug importation, modern slavery and wider violence and exploitation," he said.

"The intelligence gathered will also help inform future law enforcement across the country."

Around 11,000 officers from all 43 police forces in England and Wales, as well as the National Crime Agency and Immigration Enforcement, co-ordinated over 1,000 warrants in June.

Of those arrested, more than 450 people have since been charged.

"Cannabis-related crime is often thought to be 'low level', however there are clear patterns around the exploitation and violence organised crime groups are using to protect their enterprises," Mr Jupp added.

"We also frequently find that cannabis production is just one aspect of their criminal operations and that they are complicit in wider offending which blights our communities."

The NPCC is a body which brings leaders across police forces in the UK together to set policy direction.

-bbc