Officers were visiting a house in Tudor Crescent, Rainworth, for an unrelated incident when someone was spotted fleeing from a nearby house as they arrived.

Detecting something suspicious might be going on, Newark and Sherwood response officers followed their instincts and went to investigate.

After knocking and receiving no answer at around 11.45am on Monday (24 April), the Rota 3 Response team went around the back where they saw a door had been left wide open.

They were then greeted by the strong smell of cannabis as they got closer – with a resulting search of the property confirming these suspicions.

More than 120 cannabis plants were found growing across three different rooms inside the house, while the electricity had been bypassed to power the grow.

The drugs were all seized and destroyed by the Sherwood neighbourhood policing team, while the electrical equipment was also dismantled and put beyond use.

Inspector Charlotte Ellam, District Commander for Newark and Sherwood, said: “Our officers deserve great credit for the awareness they showed in following up a lead and making this discovery.

“This was a great example of intuitive policing and ultimately led to a cannabis grow that was operating within our community being shut down.

“It should go without saying but we don’t want to see any type of drug activity in any of the areas that we police – and this certainly includes cannabis production.

“This practice brings nothing but trouble to neighbourhoods, while also providing a very real fire risk, due to the dangerous electrical modifications often associated with these grows.”