A CANNABIS factory was raided by police after a tip-off.

Around 300 cannabis plants were found in the home when officers raided late on Sunday night.

Residents were shocked at the presence of the alleged drugs factory in a detached Haydon Wick home that until recently was occupied by an elderly couple.

A 35-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of cultivating cannabis. He is currently being questioned by detectives at Gablecross Police Station.

Police said they had been called to reports of a sickly smell at the Tracy Close home at around 9.20pm on Sunday evening. People were seen entering and leaving.

“Officers attended and discovered a cannabis factory inside,” a Wiltshire Police spokesman said.

This morning, police officers were guarding the home while a forensics officer dressed in a white paper suit collected evidence inside.

Sgt Jansen Carter said: “Thanks to a call from a diligent member of the community we have managed to close down another drugs factory in Swindon and our investigation in to this continues.

“I'd like to reassure local people that reporting suspected drug activity in your area is really important as it helps build up an intelligence picture which could be crucial to our investigations.

“We know drug supply is often associated with other crimes like physical violence and knife crime, and we take incidents of this nature extremely seriously.

“If you suspect drug activity in your area, please provide police with as much information as possible. This information will be treated in the strictest confidence and will help us disrupt crime that impacts negatively on your community.”

Residents said the home had until recently been owned by an elderly man. When he died, it was bought by a younger couple and then let out.

The only sign it was lived in was the occasional light switching on and off and the movement of blinds, said one neighbour.

Ivor Stoneham, 79, told the Swindon Advertiser: “There was no car parked outside. The blinds would go up in the morning and down at night.”

Another man, 66, out for a walk with his grandson, said of the police presence: “I have never seen anything like this.”

In the last six months, only one police report has been logged along Tracy Close on the police.uk website: a violence report in March.