POLICE have charged five men with drug offences after £500,000 worth of cannabis was found in a factory unit.
The men, all from Hartlepool, were charged yesterday when they answered bail following their arrests in January.
Officers from Cleveland Police made the arrests after finding hundreds of cannabis plants being cultivated in an artificial tropical climate in a factory unit on the Cold Hesledon Industrial Estate, near Murton, east Durham. They also found enough harvested plants to fill several sacks.
The suspects are each charged with producing a controlled drug, being concerned in the supply of a controlled drug, and possession. They will appear before magistrates in Peterlee on Friday.
The men are Laurence John Hope, 26, of Elwick Road; Ian Stuart Denton, 26, of Mereston Close; brothers Daniel Ralph Kirton, 20, and Lynden Thomas Kirton, 26, both of Elwick Road; and Jonathan Albert Wharton, 20, of Lansdowne Road.
Laurence John Hope is also facing three similar charges relating to the alleged discovery of cannabis plants at his home.
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