Drugs police raid grandmother's home... after mistaking TOMATO plants for cannabis

As Lulu Matheson was warming herself by the fire at her remote rural cottage, police and sniffer dogs burst through the door.

The officers were sure that the house was a cannabis factory – and refused to accept that her pot plants weren’t . . . well, pot plants.

Despite protestations by the 79-year-old widow that they were looking at her family’s prized tomato crop, the officers insisted on sending samples of the plants to be analysed.



Mistaken identity: Lulu and Gus Matheson with their prized tomato plants

Mrs Matheson, who has lived in the cottage for 53 years, said: ‘I got a terrible fright and I couldn’t understand what they were doing here because I knew we had nothing more than tomatoes in the window. I don’t know what the neighbours must be thinking.’

The high-profile police operation took place in the picturesque village of Shieldaig in the Highlands of Scotland a week ago.



Mrs Matheson’s 47-year-old son Gus, a former driver, was looking out of the window when he spotted police cars screeching to a halt .

He said: ‘I wondered what on earth was going on. I opened the door and they more or less barged past, saying that I was growing cannabis on the windowsills.

‘I started laughing because I knew they were tomato plants but it wasn’t so funny when they frisked me and then started tearing the house apart.’



'A terrible carry-on': Even dogs, Zac, bottom, and Moby were put in police cars



Mr Matheson was kept under guard in the bedroom while officers searched the furniture and looked under the mattress. He said that the police impounded the family’s pet dogs.

‘They even held Zac, our black labrador, and Moby, our Jack Russell, putting them in the back of one of the cop cars,’ Mr Matheson added.

‘And I just couldn’t believe it when they brought sniffer dogs all the way from Alness, which is about two hours away.

‘My 26-year-old nephew Stephen – who hardly even smokes a cigarette, never mind cannabis – lives with his girlfriend in a caravan next door and they went over and searched there too, after handcuffing him. It was a terrible carry-on.’

News of the raid spread quickly across the Highland village of Shieldaig, above



He added: ‘Despite leaving with their tails between their legs, the police didn’t even apologise.’

As a keen gardener, Mr Matheson grows tomatoes in the south-facing bedroom window to catch the sun.

He said: ‘We always enjoy having a juicy home-grown tomato with our dinner and I’ve had fine crops this year.’ Mr Matheson is now making a formal complaint to Northern Constabulary, calling the raid a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Police spokesman Duncan MacLean said: ‘We can confirm that, acting on information, we attended at an address in the Shieldaig area.

‘No drugs were found as a result of the search.’