By CATHERINE AKINSON POLICE have discovered two more cannabis factories at homes in East Cambridgeshire – bringing the total to four in the last 10 days. More than £100,000 worth of cannabis was seized in a raid at midday at a house in Littleport after a tip-

By CATHERINE AKINSON

POLICE have discovered two more cannabis factories at homes in East Cambridgeshire - bringing the total to four in the last 10 days.

More than £100,000 -worth of cannabis was seized in a raid at midday at a house in Littleport after a tip-off from a member of the public.

The rented four bedroom house, on Station Road, had been converted into a drug factory, with every room except the kitchen and utility room used to grow approximately 800 plants.

When police broke down the front door, a young Vietnamese man, jumped out of the bathroom window to evade capture but was arrested by officers and taken to Parkside Police Station in Cambridge.

The second raid took place at a house in Sutton, but when officers entered the property on Wednesday afternoon they discovered it had been dismantled. Forensic officers moved in to search the house and look for evidence.

Investigating office DS Nick Skipworth spoke to the Ely Standard from the scene of the first house and said he wanted to encourage private landlords to check written references and be suspicious of tenants who paid in cash and did not leave bank details.

All those arrested in recent raids have been Vietnamese.

"While were not saying that the Vietnamese community is to blame, when we haven't arrested someone there is always something in the house to suggest that Vietnamese people have been there," he said.

DS Skipworth said the factory could be used to harvest plans every three months.

The first cannabis factory in Littleport was discovered in Friar's Way two weeks ago, followed by a raid on a house in Tennyson Place in Ely a few days later.

"We are definitely linking all the raids in East Cambridgeshire," said DS Skipworth. "The set up is the same."

Mains electricity was tampered with to obtain thousands of pounds worth of free power, lighting cannabis plants for 12-hour stretches at a time, and the bath was filled with chemicals to pump fertiliser around the house.

Ventilation fans took the smell of cannabis through the roof so that when officers arrived at the property there was no odour.

* 19-year-old Khanh-Chi Le has been charged with cannabis production and will appear at Ely Magistrates Court on Thursday