A SUSPECTED cannabis factory with a haul worth an estimated £35,000 has been uncovered in a house in north Kent.

Police officers discovered around 280 plants in varying stages of maturity after being called by a landlord to a house in Hillview Road, New Barn, near Gravesend, on Thursday.

The plants, which were well past harvest and not in the best condition, were found growing in a number of rooms in the semi-detatched house.

A complicated and costly light, heat and irrigation system was also in place and the electricity meter had been bypassed.

This is the seventh cannabis farm to be shut down in north Kent since April.

This latest find means that police have seized more than 1,800 plants and £165,00 worth of drugs destined for north Kent's streets in just four months.

Other cannabis farms have already been shut down in Kings Drive, Gravesend; Coombfield Drive, Darenth; Littlebrook Manor Way, Temple Hill, Dartford; High Street, Swanscombe; Tynedale Close, Dartford and Hillhouse Road, Stone.