POLICE smashed a £10,000 cannabis factory in Darwen today – and warned would-be growers that they are being watched.

Officers battered down the door of a mid-terrace house in Clarence Street, Hollins Grove, in a raid.

They found ‘sophisticated’ hydroponic equipment worth up to £2,000, plus 35 small cannabis plants and remnants of cultivated cannabis bushes.

Police believe drugs grown in the first-floor master bedroom and bathroom would have been worth £10,000, but most had already been taken from the property.

PC Matt Lennie led the operation after smelling the drug while recently looking for a missing man in the area.

He carried out observations on the property after noticing windows were blocked up and there was heavy condensation.

Neighbours had also reported suspicious vehicles visiting the property in the early hours.

PC Lennie said: “It is a success in that we have disturbed a potential second crop from being grown.

"But it would have been nice to have seized the drugs before they were taken from the house.

“We have taken evidence from the house, including DNA and fingerprints, and will be checking that against our databases to find out who is responsible.

“Any would-be cannabis farmers in Darwen need to know that we will find them eventually.

"We won’t give up.

“There is not a particular cannabis problem in Darwen. It’s no different to any other town.

“But people in Darwen do talk to the police and we will act on evidence given to us.”

Police also found ‘severely dangerous’ exposed wires where the electricity metre in the house had been tampered with, so that suspicious usage did not show up on readings.

Officers checked a nearby car garage and container in Greenway Street after suspicions that it was being used to cultivate cannabis, but found no evidence in either.