Workers fled cannabis farm through night club roof

Workers at a cannabis factory set up inside a defunct nightclub escaped through the roof as police officers arrived.

Police uncovered a haul of plants with an estimated street value of £1m at the former Halo venue on Mill Street, Bedford.

Although some officers did not want to be identified, as they work with dangerous crime gangs, they told the BBC that people in the factory escaped after fleeing via the roof during the raid on Tuesday.

Bedfordshire Police have not yet made any arrests.

The former club's VIP suite had been converted into a living area with beds, fridges and toastie makers installed.

Bedfordshire Police said many of the people working at the factory would have been made to do so against their will.

Sgt Slawomir Konopka said: "You would have people, quite often they're illegal immigrants with nowhere to go, you got people who fell on bad times or owed money to drug gangs forced to work here.

"The people that are forced here to do it, they don't get this money, they don't see this money."

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