NORTHUMBRIA Police has recovered around 2,000 cannabis plants with a potential street value of £1m following a series of raids in Newcastle, North Tyneside and Gateshead.

This morning more than 100 officers, led by Northumbria Police's Crime Operations Department and assisted by Immigration Officers, raided four addresses in Newcastle at Newton Road, Simonside Terrace, Wingrove Road and Fairholm Road and two in Whitley Bay at Styan Avenue and Edwards Road. A further cannabis farm was also discovered at a house in Whitehall Road, Gateshead.

Officers executed search warrants in co-ordinated raids at 8am as part of Operation Scorpion - which is aimed at closing down cannabis factories which are run by organised crime groups, believed to have Vietnamese links.

The trend has seen the crime groups cultivating large quantities of cannabis by renting residential properties and converting them into cannabis farms.

In total seven people - six men and one woman - were arrested for alleged offences connected to the cultivation and distribution of cannabis.

As well as the cannabis, a substantial amount of equipment used for ventilation, irrigation, heat and light were seized and later destroyed.

The growing trend of homes being converted into cannabis farms is not unique to Northumbria and has become a national issue, a police spokesman said.

This morning, simultaneous raids were also carried out in Liverpool by Merseyside Police and Wigan by Greater Manchester Police as part of the same operation.

In Merseyside, three men were arrested and in Greater Manchester a further man was arrested.

Detective Chief Inspector Tim Walker, of the force's Crime Operations Department, said: "These succesful raids have taken a substantial amount of drugs off the streets of Northumbria. We will not tolerate drugs in our society and this proves we are continually working hard behind the scenes to stamp out this sort of activity.

"As always, these intelligence-led operations are often carried out with the help of the community and we would urge them to continue to be vigilent. With their help we are able to target known criminals associated with crime at all levels and on this occasion a substantial amount of cannabis has been recovered and people arrested.

"These raids and subsequent arrests send out a clear message to criminals that we know who they are and it is only a matter of time before we catch up with them.

"We believe that any organised crime operating within Northumbria Police area is a threat to our communities. We will continue to target these groups as part of our commitment to Total Policing and we have the resources in place to tackle, disrupt and dismantle them. This hard-hitting approach will not stop here."