Published: Wednesday, 8th April, 2009 12:30pm

Cannabis farm discovered in flat

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Police uncovered a cannabis farm with more that 300 plants in a flat above a row of shops.

And officers had to call in Scottish Power staff to make the flat safe after uncovering the £100,000 crop stuffed in to four rooms.

They raised serious safety concerns after finding a huge lighting rig and cooling system had been installed to encourage plant growth.

But the power required to keep equipment running was being fed through so many plugs and electrical sockets they feared an overload.

Paisley Sheriff Court heard how officers who forced entry to the flat at Paisley Road, Renfrew, on December 10 last year, found 40-year-old Lin Xin in one of the rooms watering the plants, many of which were mature.

Although he could speak no English, once quizzed with an interpretor present, he claimed he had only been employed to tend to the plants and believed they were Chinese herbs.

In court, he admitted being involved in the production of cannabis at that address.

Police removed a total of 338 plants from the flat, each with the potential to yield between one and three ounces of the drug to provide a profit of up to £101,000 if the crop eventually harvested had been at the top level.

The court was told that police had mounted the raid after receiving information that the property was being used for the cultivation of drugs.

The loft space had been used for the installation of the cooling equipment, necessary to keep the internal temperature regulated as a result of the heat from the special lamps in use.

An electrician had been summoned to attend due to fears that were raised about safety due to the large number of electrical sockets and plugs employed. The electricity meter had been bypassed to avoid the extraordinarily high usage being recorded.

After hearing the facts, Sheriff Colin Pettigrew deferred sentence and called for background reports, remanding the accused in custody and ordering him to appear back before him for final disposal on April 23.