Police in England have been surprised to discover thousands of marijuana plants, estimated to be worth more than £1 million ($NZ2m), in an underground bunker built during the Cold War.
Police raided a nuclear bunker in the English county of Wiltshire and discovered several thousand marijuana plants. Photo: Wiltshire Police
The bunker in Wiltshire used to be owned by the Ministry of Defence and was built in 1985 to protect government officials in the event of a nuclear war.
It stopped operating in 1992, and was sold in an auction in 1997.
Police said they waited outside the structure all night for three people to leave, and detained them, using their keys to gain entry into the otherwise impenetrable bunker.
They said almost all of the bunker's 20 rooms have been converted for growing cannabis.
Det Insp Paul Franklin said he was convinced it was "one of the largest crops ever discovered" in the county.
"There are approximately 20 rooms in the building, split over two floors, each 200ft long and 70ft wide," he said.
"Almost every single room had been converted for the wholesale production of cannabis plants, and there was a large amount of evidence of previous crops."
A teenager and two men, aged 15, 19, and 37, all of no fixed abode, were arrested on suspicion of cannabis production.
A further three men, aged 27, 30 and 45, all from Somerset, were arrested on suspicion of cannabis production and human trafficking offences.
- BBC
