SIX men have been released on bail after a major drugs factory was discovered in a dawn raid on a building at Marden, near Maidstone.

The six, from Maidstone, Medway and Folkestone were arrested in the massive police operation involving 50 officers, which uncovered a hydroponics factory with more than 1,200 cannabis plants.

The plants were found when officers from the Kent Police Serious and Organised Crime Department swooped on the run-down building in Howland Road, Marden, early last Wednesday morning.

The plants were ready to be harvested and police estimated that the street value of the skunk cannabis being grown would have been at least £100,000.

Kent Police said the six were released on pending further inquiries.