Cannabis worth £20M recovered by police in Eastwood following power cut investigation

The operation investigating cannabis grows was brought to South Yorkshire Police and National Powergrid’s attention following a number of unexplained power-cuts.

One resident of Hatherley Road told the local democracy reporting service that she had suffered 13 power cuts in around two weeks, which Northern Powergrid said were due to people making “illegal connections” to the electricity network, “to facilitate cannabis farms”.

South Yorkshire Police teamed up with Rotherham Council to launch Operation Grow in a bid to tackle power outages and cannabis cultivations last summer.

The operation has now been launched borough-wide, and has seen prohibition notices served on “problematic landlords”.

Since October 2021, Operation Grow has led to 122 warrants being executed throughout Rotherham, resulting in more than 20,000 cannabis plants beingrecovered worth over £20.5 million.

This has also led to 50 arrests and 120 prohibition notices served by partners under the housing act.

A report to Dr Alan Billings, South Yorkshire’s police and crime commissioner states that “daily business” is now taking place in relation to the operation, and there has been a “sustained reduction in violence related offences and linked anti social behaviour, and there have been no further power cuts within the area.”

The operation has now been expanded to Maltby and Dinnington, with plans for further investigation “to pursue the problematic landlords and explore links to other crime groups”.