TRADING Standards officers discovered a cannabis factory above a shop in Nelson after raiding it for illegal tobacco.

Officers seized the fake Golden Virginia tobacco from the shop, and then followed a trail of fertiliser bottles and a suspicious smell of drugs and uncovered a cannabis factory upstairs.

In two bedrooms they found around 50 pots of growing cannabis plants, with a substantial amount of drying cannabis leaves scattered all over the floors, together with plastic snap-bags commonly used for dealing.

The man believed to be the owner of the shop is now due to be questioned by officers, but a second man ran out of the shop.

Lancashire's chief trading standards officer, Paul Noone, said: “Trading Standards officers have made a number of discoveries while carrying out routine visits across Lancashire.

“Our officers keep their wits about them for criminal activity.”