A CANNABIS farm of more than 1,000 plants with a potential street value of £600,000 has been discovered on a Clydebank industrial estate.

The sophisticated operation was found in a warehouse in the town at the weekend after officers on patrol detected the smell of cannabis and heard the sound of fans from inside.

It is understood to have been a well established cultivation when police found it.

Officers made the discovery in the industrial estate in South Douglas Street at about 5.20am on Saturday, May 1.

Detectives and forensic crews spent the weekend gathering evidence and disposing of multiple skips full of equipment, including fans, lights, tubing and other items.

Samples of plants are normally tested for evidence while the remainder are destroyed.

Investigations are ongoing to trace the person, or people, responsible for the cultivation.

Chief Inspector Coleen Wylie, local area commander for West Dunbartonshire, said: “This is a significant recovery of illegal substances that were bound for our local communities.

“We are committed to tackling organised crime and the production and supply of illegal substances, as we realise the impact and harm this causes for individual and local communities.

“We continue to pursue those involved by disrupting their actions and seizing the proceeds of criminal activities.

“I would urge members of the public to contact us if you have any information regarding the supply of illegal drugs, by calling Police Scotland on 101, or should you wish to remain anonymous contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”

West Dunbartonshire Council planning officials previously twice rejected a £100,000 plan for an Olympic-standard trampoline training centre in the same warehouse.

In 2017, they considered the development “potentially risky” because it was 50 centimetres too close to a fuel depot at Rothesay Dock. The then owner sold it more than a year ago. 

Now, the site has a “for sale or let” sign outside – and it turned out it had been used for a criminal operation including equipment, hundreds of plants and a potentially significant fire hazard.

Restrictions imposed on the warehouse site stemmed from changes to Health and Safety Executive rules after a 2005 explosion at the Buncefield oil storage depot in Hertfordshire, which led to new rules limiting developments around such sites.