Cannabis discovery in converted farmhouse

A CANNABIS factory with 249 plants worth up to £112,000 was found at an old farmhouse.

- PHILIP DEWEY

Suspicions were raised after the farmhouse had been converted and powered via a diesel generator controlled from a horse box.

Filipe Fonseca, 31, was responsible for running the cannabis factory at Grove Farm in Newport, which was situated within 22 acres of farmland near the M4.

There were a number of buildings on the farm, as well as living quarters.

A sentencing hearing at Newport Crown Court heard the farmhouse had been renovated and disconnected from the National Grid.

Fonseca was regularly seen buying £1,500 worth of diesel at a time.

On August 7 last year, a warrant was executed by police at Grove Farm and a total of 249 cannabis plants were seized, as well as hydroponic equipment.

Numerous rooms in the farmhouse were used and there was foil lining, carbon filters, electrics, and lighting.