A CANNABIS factory has been discovered on a rural stretch of road in Soham. Police were called to the property at Hasse Road on Saturday evening and found 300 plants. This is the third cannabis factory to be uncovered in East Cambridgeshire in the past y

A CANNABIS factory has been discovered on a rural stretch of road in Soham.

Police were called to the property at Hasse Road on Saturday evening and found 300 plants.

This is the third cannabis factory to be uncovered in East Cambridgeshire in the past year - suburban rented properties in Ely and Littleport have been used to house up to half a million pounds' worth of cannabis, according to police calculations.

Each "factory" was an organised operation, housing up to 400 mature plants which produce a crop every three to four months, netting their owners up to £250,000 on the illegal drugs market.

DS Nick Skipworth of Parkside Police in Cambridge, who was responsible for the past two East Cambridgeshire cannabis raids, said there was a Vietnamese connection to the past two factories - in the Littleport raid, a young Vietnamese man jumped out of a bathroom window to evade capture, but was arrested by police, convicted of cannabis cultivation, and deported.

Police were called by a member of the public who noticed the door open and walked straight in to find cultivated cannabis plants.

The investigating police officer was not available for comment on Monday.

INFO: Anyone with information should contact police on 0845 456 456 4 or Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111.