POLICE have shut down another cannabis factory in north Kent – the fifth in just two months.

Officers from the response team and the new drugs intervention unit executed a warrant at a house in Coombfield Drive, Darenth, near Dartford.

Broadcast live by a hovering Sky News helicopter, the officers forced entry to the semi-detached house to discover a £10,000 hydroponics set-up. The electricity meter had also been bypassed.

A girl of 17 was arrested on suspicion of cultivating cannabis and is being questioned by police.

Police say between 400 and 500 semi-mature and mature plants were growing in two bedrooms and the lounge/diner with an estimated street value of around £48,000.

The find is the fifth to have been made in north Kent since April. The others were in Littlebrook Manor Way, Temple Hill, Dartford; High Street, Swanscombe; Tynedale Close, Dartford and Hillhouse Road, Stone.

PC Adrian Parsons, north Kent’s drugs and licensing officer, said: “We would ask people to be vigilant and keep an eye on their neighbours and watch out for signs that drugs could be being grown and harvested.”

Police in north Kent are asking residents to be on the look out for signs of possible illegal drugs activity, which include:

* Windows will be permanently covered from the inside

* Visits to the addresses will not match normal residents patterns

* The offenders may call daily or weekly but only for short periods

* Removal of quantities of black bags

* Compost bags and other gardening equipment in the garden close to the back door

* A pungent smell emanating from the property

* Sometimes a vent protruding from the roof tiles will be visible

Anyone with information can call 01322 283115 or Crimestoppers, in confidence, on 0800 555111.