CANNABIS worth more than £100,000 has been seized following a police raid at a house in Burnley.

Officers executed the search warrant at the terraced house in Burdett Street, in the Trinity area, at around 4.30pm yesterday.

Inside they found what they described as a ‘sophisticated’ set-up, including 300 plants and around £100,000 worth of dried cannabis.

The seizure came after the arrest of a man in Cheshire, who was found with one kilo of cannabis bush and documents relating to the Burnley property.

He was stopped by officers as he travelled on the southbound stretch of the M6, near Sandbach, on suspicion of motoring offences, at 4am on Tuesday.

Cheshire police alerted Burnley officers to the address given on the documents.

Officers had to force entry to the property where they found cannabis plants being farmed and some of the drug dried out, ready to be sold.

PC John Fisher, community beat manager for the area, said they spent around six hours dismantling the farm.

United Utilities said the electrical system used as part of the set-up was potentially lethal and could have endangered lives.

PC Fisher said: “The cannabis seized was ready to go on to the streets of Burnley - the set up was very sophisticated and organised.

“The dangers of cannabis both in itself and as a gateway drug are well documented and we are delighted to have removed such a large quantity from the streets of Burnley. We are committed to tackling both organised crime and drugs supply."

When officers executed the search warrant they said a man, possibly of Vietnamese origin, fled from the premises. He was last seen heading towards the railway tracks between Gannow and Rosegrove.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of the man should call Burnley Police on 01282 425001 or Crimsetoppers on 0800 555111.

Following the incident in Cheshire and raid at the property, a 28 year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of drugs offences and released on police bail.