A MAJOR cannabis farm housing 6,000 plants with a street value of about £2 million was discovered by police after a raid on an abandoned warehouse.

Officers with Essex Police spent hours at the warehouse in Hythe Station Road, Colchester, on Monday.

Witnesses reported seeing a number of police vehicles outside the property.

One neighbour, who asked to remain anonymous, said she saw police cut the chain on a gate leading to the warehouse.

“I saw two police vans go in and they’ve been there ever since,” she said.

“It was about 8am when they were cutting the chain and there were six people outside.”

Read more: PICTURES: Police dismantle 6,000-plant cannabis farm in Colchester

She said the smell of cannabis was noticeable.

She added: “The smell was really strong outside, it was going through the whole street.

“I had thought the building was disused office space.”

Another neighbour reported seeing officers venture on to the roof of the building.

“I assume they’ve been there all night,” she said yesterday. “The building has been disused since before lockdown.”

Amy Swaine, 29, works in a neighbouring warehouse. She said officers were on the hunt for information on Monday after their suspicions were raised by reports of a strong smell of cannabis.

She said: “I work in the warehouse next door, the police came in yesterday and were asking if we had smelled cannabis.

“The building had been abandoned for a long time.

“It must have been about 11am when I walked to Tesco and noticed police outside.

“A couple of hours later you could smell it strongly.

“Nobody saw this coming, we didn’t have any inkling of this or the scale of it.

“Our guys are in and out all the time and didn’t notice anything.”

A man was due in court yesterday charged with cultivation of cannabis.

Rition Mone, 25, of Hythe Station Road, Colchester, was due to appear in Colchester Magistrates’ Court.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “Officers will remain at the scene as our investigation continues.”

Anyone with information is asked to call 101 and cite incident 211 of April 19.