A nighttime raid by police busted a marijuana grow-op in a former nuclear bunker in southern England. The bunker had been converted into a cannabis factory. There were six arrests.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Libor
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During a night-time operation, police in southwest England raided a former nuclear bunker in Chilmark, Wiltshire, that had become home to a cannabis factory.
Detective Inspector Paul Franklin said the set-up was "enormous," with nearly all of the 20 rooms in the bunker used to grow marijuana. Franklin said there were thousands of plants inside and estimated the value of the amount of marijuana to be about 1 million pounds (1.19 million euros, $1.26 million).
Italian Army grow cannabis for medical purposes
Cannabis cures: Italy launches a pilot project for domestic production of cannabis to become independent from Dutch imports and meet the demand for medical cannabis.
Image: Getty images/AFP/F. Monteforte
Cannabis-based medicine
Cannabis-based medicine is produced by the Italian Army at Stabilimento Chimico Farmaceutico Militare in Florence.
Image: Getty images/AFP/F. Monteforte
Military project
The production of cannabis is just one of the activities of the military's 164-year-old chemical and pharmaceutical institute. The body prides itself on the fact that its cannabis was registered as a pharmaceutical product by Italy's medicines agency in September 2015. The end product is very different from most of the cannabis consumed around the world.
Image: Getty images/AFP/F. Monteforte
Less THC, more CBD
The component that gets recreational users high - tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - is less useful to doctors than another active ingredient, the anti-inflammatory cannabidiol (CBD). An estimated 2,000 -3,000 Italians currently use medical cannabis for instance to relieve multiple sclerosis pain and spasticity or combat nausea after chemotherapy.
Image: Getty images/AFP/F. Monteforte
"I have never tried it!"
"No, I have never tried it, and I don't have any intention of trying it either," says Antonio Medica, the colonel in charge of the Italian military's cannabis laboratory in Florence. He laughs that one of his colleagues joked the other day, saying they spent 40 years trying to stop the troops smoking it in the barracks and "now we are producing it ourselves'."
Image: Getty images/AFP/F. Monteforte
Suiting up for the growing room
Production in a sterile, sealed environment is very important. "That is the only way you can ensure a consistent product and one free from the toxic materials, particularly heavy metals like mercury, that the plants can easily absorb when grown in fields," Medica explains.
Image: Getty images/AFP/F. Monteforte
Relief for cancer patients
The German parliament In January 2017 voted unanimously in a landmark bill to legalize the use of medical marijuana, for instance ot help cancer patients feeling nauseaous after chemotherapy. The drug is also said to help fight a lack of appetite and weight loss in tumor patients, and can alleviate symptoms of multiple sclerosis.
Image: Getty images/AFP/F. Monteforte
Made in Italy
Above, a pharmacist prepares a prescription of marijuana in the laboratories. The first batches of made-in-Italy pot have just arrived in pharmacies.
Image: Getty images/AFP/F. Monteforte
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"I am convinced it is one of the largest crops ever discovered in Wiltshire," said Franklin.
According to a press release from Wiltshire Police, three men were detained outside the bunker, and police used their keys to get inside the structure. Police found three more men inside, from 15 to 37 years old, who were also detained and arrested. The men detained outside the structure were all from Somerset and arrested on suspicion of cannabis production and human trafficking offenses. The three found inside the bunker were arrested on suspicion of cannabis production and taken into custody.
"This is the largest and most sophisticated cannabis factory I've ever experienced, and I am delighted that we have been able to take such a large amount of illicit drugs off the streets of Wiltshire before they are able to reach vulnerable people within our communities," said Franklin.
The legal status of cannabis is controversial in the UK, with former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and several MPs from the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative parties arguing that it should be legalised in a statement released by the Adam Smith Institute.
