AN arrest was made and cannabis-growing operation shut down after police officers acted on information and raided a property in Tilbury.

Officers from the Thurrock Neighbourhood Policing Team and the Essex Force's Operational Support Group executed a warrant at an address in the town on Tuesday, 24 February.

It was found electricity had been abstracted – with extensive haphazard wiring – presenting a significant fire risk. Rooms in the property had been converted to house cannabis plants.

A total of 122 cannabis plants were recovered.

A man aged in his 30s, from London, was arrested on suspicion of cultivating cannabis and abstracting electricity.

He remains on police bail while the investigation continues.

Temporary Sergeant Curtis Price, who led the warrant, said: "Cannabis production on a large scale is not a harmless or victimless crime. It presents very real dangers to those who are exploited as part of the drugs trade and causes significant issues to neighbours and wider communities.

"We will act on intelligence we receive around drug activity in the Thurrock district.

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"It's really important people keep talking to us – the information you provide helps us build up a picture of where problems are arising.

"It is the abstraction of electricity, undertaken to power such grows, that presents a very real danger to residents living nearby.

"The bypassing of electricity meters and extensive faulty wiring regularly causes fires."