A landlord described his horror at finding the home he grew up in had been turned into a cannabis farm.
Sonny Johal says he only found out that the house in Cardinals Way, Archway, was being used to grow illegal drugs after a neighbour reported a suspected break-in to the police last Friday (March 22).
Police responding to a call that broken glass had been spotted in the back garden discovered "large amounts" of cannabis.
A video taken in the days after the discovery shows how the home appeared to have been turned over almost entirely to drug production, with large pipes running from top to bottom.
Empty plant pots can be seen littering the floors of rooms beneath a mess of criss-crossing cables, with extra sockets and water containers lined up in the bath.
Sonny told this paper that he had let the house out to the same tenants for the past two years through a reputable agent.
The landlord said: “Everything was fine, the rent was being paid.
“My family have owned that house since the 1970s or 80s. I was born and raised in that house myself.
“It's been totally ruined. I’m dreading what our bill is going to be to get it back in shape.”
Although he had never met the tenants, Sonny was told by the neighbour that they seemed like “really nice guys”.
He said: “She said they were hardly there, and they would come every now and then.”
Sonny says he has since been told that the neighbour’s son had noticed a funny smell around the house.
The neighbour had also complained to his tenants about a loud whirring noise, but was told that this was just the sound of their fridge.
Sonny said: “The letting agents are the ones that pay us the rent, so I think they’ve been duped as well.
“That’s just what these kinds of criminals do. They have ways around everything.”
He added: “I want people to be aware and other landlords to know that this could happen to them.
“No one ever expects it, you see it on TV. When you see the scale of what's been done, it’s insane.”
The Metropolitan Police has confirmed that all of the cannabis found in the property has been seized, and that no arrests have been made at this stage of their investigation.
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