A HUGE cannabis set-up found in a former bar in Barnsley town centre had an estimated street value of £500,000, police revealed this week.
Officers received a tip-off about Alexander Cocktail Bar, on Shambles Street, which has been empty for about eight months.
A raid took place last month which resulted in officers uncovering hundreds of plants, thought to be one of the biggest hauls of cannabis officers in the town have ever had.
Sgt Matt Wood said: “It’s still an ongoing investigation and forensic evidence is being gathered, but this was a commercial-scale set-up so it’s a very good find.
“Often when we uncover cannabis plants they’re in the loft, but on this occasion the whole building was full.”
Alexander Cocktail Bar, which was formerly a Chinese restaurant called Red Ginger, was last run by 29-year-old Romanian Andrei Tuculianu, who is named on Companies House as a director.
The find comes just weeks after the Kendray-based policing team found more than 200 plants at a house in Wombwell, which had an estimated street value of £200,000.
