POLICE have seized 146 plants in a raid on a Southampton “cannabis factory”.

Officers swooped to a property in Romsey Road during a drug bust.

Supported by engineers from SSE, they seized a total of 146 plants - believed to be cannabis.

A 25-year-old man from the city was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of Class B drugs.

He was questioned however has since been released on bail following the raid on Tuesday morning.

Over recent weeks police have carried out a number of operations targeting ‘cannabis factories’ in the city.

Around 1,782 cannabis plants were confiscated from empty business sites in Castle Way and the High Street last month.

A further 500 plants were seized from a property in Shirley Road on February 22.

Commenting on the issue, Labour councillor for Freemantle, Dave Shields said that the industrial scale of recent finds and evidence of involvement of highly organised criminal gangs in the production and supply of cannabis is extremely worrying.

Holding the position of chair for the Safe City Partnership he said: “We discussed the recent spate of cannabis factory raids by the police during Thursday’s meeting.

“Members of the partnership are also very concerned how these gangs are also involved in other criminal activity like modern slavery and we are committed to maintaining support both to the police in intervening where necessary and to local communities in monitoring the situation in their neighbourhoods.”

Meanwhile, police are urging anyone who suspects cannabis cultivation or drug-related activity going on in their neighbourhood to report it.

Anyone with any concerns or information about cannabis factories should call police on 101.