Cannabis plants worth more than £300,000 were seized from a house after a police helicopter spotted heat coming from its roof with a hi-tech camera.
The drugs were found growing in every room of the semi-detached property in Hodge Hill.
A gang had converted the address in Bromford Road from a standard family home into a sophisticated operation capable of turning out thousands of pounds worth of “skunk” every week. Ventilation systems and lamps had been set up in every room to make the 300 plants grow more quickly.
Police said it was because of the powerful lights that the roof was shown to be “glowing” on infrared cameras when the force helicopter passed over on Monday.
Officers swooped at 8.30am yesterday and seized the drugs and thousands of pounds worth of equipment.
A man in his 20s was arrested after being found sleeping on a tiny bed under the stairs – the only available space left in the home.
Hodge Hill is among a number of hot-spots across the city where drug factories have increased in recent years.
Recent Home Office figures show that 672 factories were discovered in the last year by West Midlands Police, making a total of almost two a day.
