The woman found the cannabis factory after trying to enter the property to make repairs
A retired police officer has spoke of her shock after discovering that a cannabis factory had been set up in an empty property she owned.
The woman attended the property on Maymount Street in East Belfast last week in order to make repairs to it and found that the locks on the doors had been changed and there were different blinds in the window. She says the house had been empty for a couple of years after it had been left in a poor state by previous tenants and she needed time to save in order to refurbish it.
After being given access to the rear alleyway, she says she noticed a very strong smell of cannabis and when she got inside the property found that nearly every room of the house was full of cannabis plants. A man was also inside the property, and had been sleeping in the shed out the back, and fled as soon as the woman entered the property. Neighbours later told her they had saw an Asian man coming and going from the property.
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Holes have been cut in the property’s floors, ceilings and chimney in order to facilitate ventilation systems as part of the cannabis factory with the woman saying that an officer at the scene told her finding factories like this was a common occurrence.
Speaking to Belfast Live, the woman said: “The house on Maymount Street is the first I ever bought and I had been renting it out until it fell into a poor state and I left it vacant until I could afford to make the repairs that were needed. I thought the house was completely secure and we had even put nails into the front door to make sure it would be locked up.
“Last week I went round to the property to check on things as I was now ready to start working on it and was shocked to find that the locks had been changed and the blinds in the window were different to the ones that should be there.
“Once I got into the rear alley there was a very strong smell of cannabis and looking around I could tell it wasn’t coming from one of the neighbours houses. Then when we got inside we found the house full of cannabis plants, nearly every room was full of them.
“There was someone in the house at the time who quickly ran away and neighbours have told us that an Asian man had been coming and going from the house over the past few weeks. It appears that he wasn’t even sleeping in the house and had a bed in the shed in the back yard, but was using the kitchen to cook.
“The house has been wrecked by what they have done, with holes cut in the floors, ceilings and chimney and I have been left with an eye-watering electric bill.
“An officer has told me this is very common at the moment, although Air BnBs are more commonly used, and it is hard to believe that this is going on in Northern Ireland.”
The woman, who is a retired police officer, also raised concerns with the investigation so far into the cannabis factory, feeling that more should have already been done.
She said: “It seemed to me that the officers were not too interested in the factory and they were just going to see what happens based on the forensic report. There are invoices here for equipment linked to an address in Belfast which don’t seem to have been taken as evidence and no officers have spoken to any of the neighbours.
“I would imagine that this is linked to organised crime and human trafficking so I would have thought they would try and take a more proactive approach than ‘we will see what happens’.”
Inspector Connolly said: “We received a report at around 11.30am on Wednesday, 5th November, when the homeowner called to check on the house and discovered the cannabis farm inside.
“Officers attended and subsequently carried out a search of the house, uncovering more than 40 cannabis plants in the two upstairs bedrooms. A further 50 cannabis plants were located in the attic, along with approximately 40 plants in the living room and various drug-related paraphernalia.“No one was in the property at the time of the search, however.“Our investigation into this is ongoing and I would ask any member of the public who has any information which could be of assistance to police to contact our non-emergency number on 101, quoting reference number 564 of 05/11/25.“Alternatively, you can also submit a report online using the non-emergency reporting form at http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/ or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org/.”
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