It would have been unthinkable a year ago: police helping a homeowner recover stolen pot plants.

But that's exactly what London police officers were called to do in a quiet residential neighbourhood in South London.

When a resident called to report stolen cannabis plants, the police responded.

Their job is, after all, to weed out the bad guys.

Thief dropped ID

The homeowner was growing four pot plants in his backyard.

At the end of August, three of the plants were stolen, but one was dropped in a neighbouring backyard, so he replanted it.

A week later, the thieves were back and stole the remaining two plants — only this time, the culprit dropped one of the plants and his backpack, with his ID in it.

The homeowner replanted the dropped plant and Googled the name on the ID, and found a nearby address. A quick call to police and officers arrived to retrieve the stolen property.

The homeowner has replanted the cannabis plants retrieved by London Police and is trying to tend to them. (Supplied by homewoner)

Officers retrieved two relatively healthy cannabis plants. A third had been torn up by the culprits.

The homeowner opted not to have police press charges.

The charge could have been theft over $5,000, because police estimate a single cannabis plant is worth between $1,000 and $1,500.

The pot plants have been replanted and the homeowner is doing everything he can to make sure they thrive.

The homeowner did not want to be named for this story. Police confirmed they responded to an incident on Sept. 6 and retrieved two pot plants.