Fire breaks out at house suspected as a cannabis factory (From This is Hampshire)

Fire breaks out at house suspected as a cannabis factory

12:00pm Tuesday 14th November 2006 in

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A FIRE swept through a house in Southampton - just minutes before it was due to be raided by police.

Officers from Southampton's drug investigation and intelligence team were on their way to the property as part of one of three simultaneous cannabis raids being carried homes suspected of being used to cultivate the class c drug.

But officers were informed that a fire had broken out in the upstairs of the terraced house at Broadlands Road in Portswood and firefighters were already at the property tackling the blaze.

The fire swept through the upstairs rooms of the home and completely destroyed the staircase. Firefighters used breathing apparatus to extinguish the fire that started just after 7am today.

An initial search of the property did find the remains of cannabis plants and growing equipment but police officers had to wait for a fire investigation to be conducted before starting their own inquiries.

Meanwhile the two other raids also in the Portswood area saw six arrests and a large quantity of cannabis seized.

Teams of officers used battering rams to enter the homes at Brickfield Road and Northcote Road. Five men and a woman were led away from the house at Brickfield Road into a waiting police van. Meanwhile more than £3,000 worth of cannabis was found growing in a bedroom at the end-of-terraced two bedroom home at nearby Northcote Road.