POLICE have uncovered a drugs factory able to sell £300,000 worth of cannabis a year.

Swindon centre officers raided the house in Plymouth Street on Friday night to find more than 400 skunk cannabis plants growing inside.

Police were called to the terraced house by the electricity company that noticed an unusual amount of power being used.

Sgt Scott Hargreave from Swindon central policing team said: "This was a fully established factory, with in excess of 400 plants.

"A factory with that amount of plants would be able to turn over £300,000 a year.

"This was a large scale cultivation project."

Sgt Hargreave said the drug was more than twice as pure as strains available just a decade ago.

Police scenes of crime officers spent most of yesterday cutting the stems of hundreds of plants and bagging them up to be used in evidence.

Several large sacks filled with the drug were removed from the address in a police van.

Hundreds of plant pots were then emptied of soil and plastic sheeting lining the floors of each room removed.

Police believe the factory owners may have been scared off when an electrician visited a neighbouring house to investigate the power fusing.

The electrician notified the police when he discovered an abnormal amount of electricity being used by the property.

"We have recovered DNA from the scene which is being processed as part of our inquiries," said Sgt Hargreave.

So far no arrests have been made.

During Friday night, town centre officers also served two other drugs warrants.

Following tip-offs from the community, officers visited a house in Ferndale Road, where a male was arrested on suspicion of possessing 22g of cocaine, with a street value of £1,100.

Officers then visited a property in Amber Court, off County Road. Five people were at the address who did not live there and police seized cocaine.

"A lot of our drugs work revolves around heroin and crack cocaine but information from the community has linked social use cocaine to pubs and clubs.

"We would like to assure the public we are continuing the fight against all forms of drug use and abuse.

"But we are always seeking co-operation from the public about any unusual activity going on in their neighbourhood."

Anyone with any information relating to the Plymouth Street cannabis factory, or the cocaine discovery in Ferndale Road and Amber Court should contact Swindon police on 0845 408 7000.