Officers work in tandem to put cannabis farmers behind bars

Two men responsible for tending to a cannabis farm at a former haunted museum have been jailed.

Nicolae Dumitru and David Moore were both inside the disused Mapperley property when police forced the door open.

Officers then charged in and quickly realised their suspicions the building was being used to grow cannabis were in fact correct.

Rows upon rows of plants were found growing across three rooms within the property – with 284 eventually counted and dismantled.

Two further empty rooms had also been prepared for grows, while the electricity was also found to have been bypassed.

Dumitru and Moore had been living at the Woodborough Road based site, which had previously been used as a haunted museum and cinema.

The warrant on the morning of 3 April 2024 came after months and months of planning and involved several teams from Nottinghamshire Police.

Having pleaded guilty to producing cannabis, Dumitru, 35, and Moore, 27, appeared at Nottingham Crown Court to be sentenced on Monday (16 September).

The cannabis growers, both of no fixed address, were jailed for 18 months apiece.

Following Dumitru and Moore’s sentencing, the officer in the case was keen to stress the teamwork that had contributed to shutting down the cannabis farm.

PC Tom Griffiths, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “I am very happy with this result, which is the culmination of many months of hard work across multiple teams at Nottinghamshire Police.

“The intelligence for this warrant was gathered by an excellent team of local Police Community Support Officers, based at St Ann’s Police Station.

“The execution of the warrant was led by the St Ann’s Beat team and assisted by the Neighbourhood Policing teams from the Meadows and Sneinton.

“Specialist officers from the Tactical Support Group were essential in allowing us to gain entry to the premises on the day of the warrant, and key evidence was gathered by CSI and the Cannabis Dismantling Team.

“On top of that, further essential work was conducted by the Digital Forensic Unit, which helped to secure vital evidence held on electronic devices recovered from the premises needed to secure these convictions.

“This was just a fantastic example of our different policing teams working in tandem to get a positive result and put two criminals behind bars, so I’d like to thank all of those involved for their efforts."