Police in London discovers a major cannabis growhouse

When life is enough for you lemons, make lemonade. And if life brings you a pandemic ... grow some weed? Apparently that was the idea behind a massive growhouse that police recently discovered in London's financial district. The discovery, made on Jan. 13, came after "reports of a strong smell of cannabis" recently stalled due to shutdown measures imposed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Police there said they obtained a search warrant the following day to enter the premises, where they discovered an indoor "cannabis factory" containing 826 plants, which were subsequently destroyed by officers. "This is the first cannabis factory in the city, which was no doubt set up in response to fewer people who might have noticed unusual activity during the pandemic," said Andy Spooner, the London detective who led the investigation. "However, this shows that the City of London Police are still actively monitoring the Square Mile and taking action against any crime committed here." Spooner added that London police "made two arrests and our investigation is ongoing." The New York Times noted that London's typically busy financial district "has emptied as the UK government tries to contain a wave of coronavirus cases and instructed employees to work from home to curb transmission." "The area is usually teeming with people, especially on weekdays. The London Stock Exchange and corporate headquarters of major financial corporations, as well as the Bank of England, are all crowded in what is known as the Square Mile," the Times reported, adding that a London spokeswoman said that "the police who oversee the neighborhood are usually involved in economic crimes such as fraud" and that a drug arrest like this "was unusual." The local financial district is known as the City of London, which, according to Reuters, is "home to the world's largest commercial insurance market, banks and fund managers, and has been largely abandoned since March when most employees were asked to work from home." The secret indoor cannabis farm was located in a building near the Bank of England, whose governor, Andrew Bailey, joked about the development during an online event on Wednesday. "We will now be the subject of endless jokes about 'now we know what the Bank of England did,'" he said, as quoted by Reuters. "I'm sure there will be a lot of other jokes. It's very quiet around the Bank of England, I should say." The news commemorates another notable arrest in London in 2019 when police uncovered a huge cannabis farm there, housed in the bowels of a 120-year-old Victorian theater. The theater farm appeared to have been in operation for about a decade, and police estimate the breeders made about £ 4 million - $ 5.1 million for Americans - a year during that time. The theater was originally built in the late 19th century, but had been converted into a shopping mall half a century ago. The grow house was not accessible from the shops above.