Residents left in dark after woman drains power supply to light cannabis factory



Light sapping: police found cannabis being grown with a watering system powered by the street-lamp network

Residents in a Lancashire town were so puzzled why the street lamps on their road were so much dimmer than everyone else's, they asked the council if it was experimenting with low-energy light bulbs.

But the local authority said the lights on Warrenhurst Road in Fleetwood should be as bright as every other street's.



It was only when the police noticed how dim the area was at night that an investigation began.

They discovered that a 19-year-old woman was illegally draining so much power from the lamp-post lighting system that the bulbs could hardly flicker.

Soon after officers found £100,000 worth of cannabis plants when they staged a raid on her property.



A sophisticated lighting and watering scheme inside the house was being powered by the street-lighting system and officers found plants growing in all three bedrooms of the property.



Lancashire Police confirmed a woman has been arrested on suspicion of growing drugs and illicitly removing power.