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It was high time gardeners did some weeding when cannabis was found in council flower pots.

About 20 plants could be seen sprouting from among flowers in six separate boxes in Newport city centre – passed by thousands of motorists every day and half a mile from the city’s main police station.

Shopkeepers Dean Beddis and Steve Reynolds spotted the crooked crops as they walked home after a pint.

Dean, who runs the town’s Kriminal Records, said: “I had never seen cannabis growing in the wild before so it was crazy to see it.

“We thought Newport was trying to be a new Amsterdam and doing its best to win City in Bloom.

“It’s actually rather a beautiful plant and stood out wonderfully.

“But they have gone now. I don’t know who took them.

“Either the council spotted them or some young type has spotted them and put them in his garden.”

They vanished after WalesOnline took its snaps.

“They were in full view in the city centre boxes,” Dean said.

The boxes are all marked with Newport council’s logo.

“It made us smile and brightened up dreary old Newport,” the 48 year old said.

Steve, who runs store Toy Army, joked: “If that comes with the seal of Newport council it has got to be good stuff.

“It’s just a shame people have taken them all.”

One source claimed to know who was behind the plants – but would not reveal their identity.

“He just planted them for a laugh,” the friend said.

“He thought it would be funny to see how big they would grow.

“The soil the council are using must be great. To be that size I reckon they must have been there about eight weeks.”

Goldie Lookin Chain rapper and Newport councillor Rhys Hutchings blamed the “Newport underworld community”.

“Probably teenagers,” he said. “I’m pretty sure it’s not Alan Titchmarsh.”

The musician, famed for songs including 21 Ounces and album Return of the Red Eye, added: “Say no to drugs kids.”

The National Botanic Garden of Wales said there was “little doubt” the plants were cannabis sativa after studying our pictures.

“We can’t do a sniff test from here obviously but, for further corroboration, you could show it to the next teenager you see,” an insider said.

Gardens curator Simon Goodenough added: “The cannabis will have found its way into the tub in one of three ways – the compost had seed in it, the seed has passed through the gut of a bird, or as a teenage prank.

“There is a lot of hemp seed in health food products but this is taken from non-THC-containing plants.

“A lot of farmers grow hemp under licence for the fibre, to make rope, but, once again, these are non-THC-containing plants.”

Cannabis seeds used to appear in some bird food.

“But all the commercial seed these days doesn’t have the active principal that makes it a drug plant,” Simon said.

“My money’s on it being a teenage prank.”

Newport council inspected the pots on August 1. But the plants disappeared the day before.

A council spokeswoman said they “did not find any evidence of cannabis plants”.

“The planters also did not look as though they had been disturbed,” she said.

She claimed the pictures appeared to show “to show mature plants added to a council planter”.

“Although this could be a hoax, it is a serious issue and Newport City council will be informing the police, and checking its CCTV cameras,” the spokeswoman said.

A Gwent police spokesman said: “Now that the plants have apparently disappeared it’s difficult to determine whether they were in fact illegal cannabis plants or not, and if so, whether they had been deliberately planted for cultivation.”