The cannabis farm was uncovered by officers on the Brunswick Industrial Estate on 11 March, where almost 1,500 plants were being grown and cultivated over two floors.
Officers started the investigation after a tip-off by electricity contractors who had responded to an outage on the industrial estate. Police found a huge industrial unit that had been converted into a make-shift drugs operation.
Detective Superintendent John Bensley, of Northumbria Police, said: “This is not some small scale farm consisting of a few plants in an unoccupied bedroom, it has all the marking of serious and organised crime.”
“Overnight we have struck at the heart of a suspected £1 million drugs operation that relies on the exploitation of vulnerable people across our region.”
“We will continue to work with our partners to proactively target organised crime operations and dismantle them piece by piece.”
Enquiries to identify those responsible for the huge farm are ongoing and anyone who may be able to assist police is asked to get in touch.
You can report information online at the Northumbria Police website or by calling 101, quoting log 415 11/03/21.