A SOPHISTICATED cannabis farm was found when police raided a home in an upmarket area of Bolton.

Officers found 400 mature plants and 100 saplings and substantial growing equipment inside a large mid-terraced house in Somerset Road, Heaton, close to Bolton School, after executing a drugs warrant at shortly before 4pm on Wednesday.

The Bolton News:

Members of Horwich and Heaton neighbourhood team were seen loading bags of the seized pungent plant into the back of a police van parked over the road this morning.

Crime scene investigators also arrived to sweep the property for evidence.

Two men, aged 51 and 22, arrested at the property on suspicion of production of a controlled drug are now being questioned in custody at Bolton Police Station.

The Bolton News:

The house has five bedrooms and an attic and the drugs factory setup had been established on the upper two floors and in the attic.

One neighbour, who did not want to be identified, said: "I think the previous occupant, George, died and it was sold to a Pakistani family who rented it out."

Other residents expressed surprise that such a quiet and respectable street had been hiding a sizeable drugs farm.