Cannabis farm found in school building

Police award themselves ‘top marks’ for seizing stash

Officers found some 700 plants in the former Islamic school (West Midlands Police/SWNS)

A large-scale cannabis factory has been uncovered by police at a former school with more than 700 plants growing in the classrooms.

Officers raided Abu Bakr Boys’ School in Walsall, West Midlands, and found the class B drugs strewn across the site over the weekend.

A total of 711 cannabis plants, believed to be worth some £700,000, were removed from the abandoned building on Monday.

West Midlands Police’s cannabis disposal team shared details of the seizure on Twitter and said: “Not your usual school.

“This unused school in Kent Street, Walsall was found to be a huge cannabis factory yesterday.

“Top marks for the cannabis team who cleared the 711 plants today.”

Residents said the former Islamic school closed its doors about two years ago during lockdown and has been boarded up ever since.

One woman, who lives nearby and asked to remain anonymous, said: “There were police there all over the weekend but none of them would tell us what was going on.

“The place has been boarded up for a while now as it closed suddenly during the pandemic.

“We had no idea it was being used as a cannabis factory. It’s pretty outrageous to be growing weed in a school. Its a sign of the times I guess.”

Other residents reacted on social media with one person commenting: “It used to be a school, but its now a nursery.”

Another said: “I know we’ve got a drug problem in some of our schools but this is taking it to another level.”

Makeshift ducting and extra electricity cables were installed by criminals (West Midlands Police / SWNS)

A third person wrote: “They’ve gone to town on that, full electrical wire up, how did nobody living nearby notice it for so long?”

SWNS