Recent cannabis raids carried out in Hillsborough and Walkley have led to £250,000 worth of drugs being taken off the streets.
In total, South Yorkshire Police’s Hillsborough and Walkley team have now taken £8 million of the drug from cannabis farms in the last three years.
Sgt Simon Kirkham, who has led some of the cannabis raids, commended the Hillsborough and Walkley community.
He said: “My team is proactive and very experienced. We enjoy a great deal of success and the success we enjoy is because we have an excellent community out there that works with us and we appreciate it tremendously.”
One of the recent raids carried out was at Withens Avenue where police said they found a ‘wealth of evidence,’ as well as £100,000 of cannabis.
Another raid carried out was at Cundy Street, where Sgt Kirkham and his team found an additional £150,000 worth of the drug.
Sgt Kirkham said his team took pride in carrying out the work to make the community safer but said the job was not without risks.
He said: “ Your heart rate goes up as you’re never going to know what’s going to be on the other side of the door. No one wants to get injured and we want no injuries to the offender.
“At the end of the day it is about justice and we don’t want to hurt anyone badly.”
Sgt Kirkham said the issue of cannabis farms has been due to networks of gangs in the area renting out houses from tenants.
They then convert the houses into growing rooms where they then produce the drug.
Hillsborough councillor Christine Kubo congratulated the police on their efforts and has given her support to help the police remove gangs from the area.
Cllr Kubo gave advice to her community in helping the police crack down on these farms.
She said: “If you notice anything suspicious, people coming and going that you don’t know, people that don’t seem to be your neighbours and notice any strange smells coming from your area, do report it to the police as observations by people is what catches these gangs.”
If you have any information about cannabis grow concerns, these can be passed to crimestopper on 0800555111 or via 101.
