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Police in the UK have raided a nuclear bunker and found a large cannabis factory

Posted at 9:44 AM, Feb 24, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-24 09:44:25-05

(CNN NEWSOURCE) Police in the UK have raided a nuclear bunker and found a large cannabis factory with the value of the crop estimated at over $1 million.

Officers from Wiltshire police arrested six people during a midnight raid on RGHQ Chilmark - an underground nuclear bunker built in the 1980s to protect government officials and local dignitaries in case of a nuclear attack.

The site is no longer owned by UK's Ministry of Defence, but the bunker is intact and the nuclear blast doors are still in place.

The police said that because the bunker is almost completely impenetrable, officers waited outside for three people to leave it and then detained them, using their keys to gain entry.

Inside, police found additional three people, believed to be operating as gardeners, along with several thousand cannabis plants at various stages of growth.

Detective Inspector Paul Franklin, of the Dedicated Crime Team, said: "There are approximately 20 rooms in the building, split over two floors, each 200’ long and 70’ wide. Almost every single room had been converted for the wholesale production of cannabis plants, and there was a large amount of evidence of previous crops. This was an enormous set up."

"At this early stage of the investigation it is almost impossible to work out how many plants are inside, but we are talking thousands rather than hundreds."