A VOLUNTEER bailiff has helped stop 30 bags of cannabis, and future crops, from getting onto the streets.
Roy Bridson, one of the Angling Trust’s volunteer bailiffs, was alerted by a Whittlesey AC member to black bin bags dumped in the River Nene near Whittlesey in Cambridgeshire.
He managed to haul one of the bags to the riverbank, and found it filled with cannabis plants. He alerted the police and together they recovered 30 bags mostly containing cannabis plants, roots, cuttings and buds ready to be sold.
Paul Thomas, Angling Trust’s regional enforcement manager, said: “Our volunteer bailiffs are the eyes and ears at the waterside and are trained to report suspicious activity to the police and Environment Agency to a high evidential standard.
“This cannabis find prove how worthwhile their roles have become – they are a credit to angling and society in general.
“Volunteer bailiffs are always on the lookout for signs of illegal fishing, poaching, set lines and nets but every so often they come across more sinister activity.
“A few years ago, bailiffs on patrol near Reading found a cache of deadly firearms, including a magnum handgun and an Uzi submachine gun.
“Anyone witnessing an illegal fishing incident in progress can report it directly to the Environment Agency hotline on 0800 80 70 60. Information on illegal fishing and environmental crime can also be reported anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
A spokesman for Cambridgeshire police said: “We were called with reports that bags of cannabis had been found in water between Pondersbridge and Whittlesey.
“Seven cannabis plants and an additional bag of the drug were recovered.
“We were contacted with an additional report that about 20 cannabis plants had been found underneath Beggar’s Bridge near Coates.
“No arrests have been made in relation to either incident.”
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