Dyfed-Powys Police’s biggest drugs operation takes £12 million of cannabis out of the supply chain

Police teams tackling the threat presented by industrial scale cannabis farms have taken more than £12 million worth of cannabis out of the supply chain.

Raiding buildings from former schools and empty town centre shops to a disused newspaper office, Dyfed-Powys Police has successfully disrupted 37 commercial sized cannabis farms over the past year alone, with 35 people arrested for their involvement.

And their work will not stop there, as proactive policing teams across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Powys continue to gather and act on intelligence as part of Operation Scotney – a CID-led operation launched in response to the increasing number of cannabis factories being established by organised crime gangs.

Scotney has proven to be the force’s widest and most successful drugs operation to date, with cannabis worth over £12 million in street value seized and destructed, along with tonnes of commercial scale heating and lighting equipment.

Explaining how the operation came to be, Detective Chief Inspector Rich Lewis said: “Through proactive policing work taking place across the force, it came to our attention that a number of large scale cannabis factories were being discovered in seemingly unconnected areas. We’re talking about thousands of plants being seized during each warrant, which for us was highly unusual.

“It was established fairly quickly that these factories were in fact linked, in that the people we suspected to be responsible were believed to have been recruited by organised crime gangs from outside the force area, hoping to go undetected in our rural towns.

“Given the size of the factories and the quantities of cannabis being discovered, we knew we needed to take firm action, and so Operation Scotney was launched at the beginning of 2024.”

Led by the force’s Criminal Investigation Department, Operation Scotney sees detectives, intelligence experts and proactive policing officers work together to establish where the factories are being set up, and to swoop in and disrupt them before the cannabis grows can be cultivated.

So far, 37 warrants have been executed in the four divisions, with tens of thousands of plants discovered.

DCI Lewis explained that these factories are not being set up in hidden away places, where criminals can come and go undetected, but in public areas, town centres and even on the same street as a police station.

“What has been incredible, alongside the amount of cannabis we have discovered being grown, is the brazen approach those responsible have taken,” he said.

“We’ve seen former schools, empty shops, and a former newspaper office used as cannabis factories, and a number of these were in town centres where it would be very difficult to go unnoticed. This led us to believe the gangs are using bold tactics such as disguising themselves as construction workers or landlords to enter and leave these buildings without raising suspicions.

“Their tactic was to hide in plain sight – who would suspect that someone wearing a high visibility vest carrying large boxes into a disused building in broad daylight could be setting up a cannabis factory?

“The fact that 400 plants were found just four doors down from the police station in Newcastle Emlyn just goes to show their determination to carry out their criminal endeavours – but our determination to stop them is greater.”

Rather than becoming disillusioned by the size and scale of these cannabis factories, Dyfed-Powys Police is more committed than ever to eliminate the threat, with sources of intelligence scrutinised daily and plans quickly put in place where a new cannabis factory is suspected to have been set up.

Over the course of a year, 35 people have been arrested and charged under Operation Scotney: 29 of these have been jailed, four are awaiting sentencing, two are yet to enter a plea, and two additional people have been deported following arrest.

As officers continue their work, they are asking members of the public to be vigilant, to be aware of the signs that a cannabis factory is operating, and to report any concerns to the force.

“We have openly shared the results of Operation Scotney warrants, and will continue to do so as we enter 2025,” DCI Lewis said.

“It has proven to be a very successful operation so far, and we’re making great strides towards the force priority of making the Dyfed-Powys area hostile to those who deal drugs.

“We will continue our work to tackle the vulnerability posed by these gangs, and we will act on any intelligence supplied by the public that could assist us in achieving this aim.

“Alongside this, we will have a focus on those individuals enabling this criminal activity to take place in their properties. By this we mean investigating people renting or leasing premises without due diligence, those supplying electrical goods and hardware including hydroponics, and anyone  profiting from this endeavour.”