Cannabis found growing among pot plants put out to brighten up city centre

Council officials in Newport, south Wales, are trying to discover who planted cannabis in flower pots put out to brighten up the city centre. More than 20 of the illegal plants were discovered nestling amongst begonias and petunias in six separate boxes of the street flower displays. But by the time police were told and went to examine the specimens they had gone.



"I had never seen cannabis growing in the wild before so it was crazy to see it," said local shopkeeper Dean Beddis, who made the discovery. "It's actually rather a beautiful plant and stood out wonderfully. But they have gone now. I don't know who took them. Either the council spotted them or some young type has spotted them and put them in his garden."



Newport councillor Rhys Hutchings, also a member of the band Goldie Lookin Chain, said he thought local teenagers were to blame. "It's either kids or the Newport underworld community - I'm pretty sure it's not Alan Titchmarsh," he joked. But city council officials have taken a dim view of the green-fingered criminals. "It's a serious issue and we will be informing the police and checking our CCTV cameras," said a spokesperson.



Gwent Police said the fact that the plants had now gone was problematic. "Now that the plants have apparently disappeared it's difficult to determine whether they were in fact illegal cannabis plants or not and, if so, whether they had been deliberately planted for cultivation," a spokesperson said.

With photo gallery.