A MUM was left stunned last week to find a cannabis farm next door with the growing operation stealing power from her house.
Kirsteen Wilson, 38, had to call out Scottish Power after her husband Gary noticed the metre usage was rocketing at their Dalmellington home.
Engineers soon discovered that the power surge was coming from marijuana farmers next door who had illegally tapped into their electricity supply.
Police were then called to the address on Castle Road to search the house after suspicions were raised and found a huge batch of plants worth £100,000 on Thursday, November 12.
Mum-of-three Kirsteen told the Advertiser: “My husband had noticed that our electricity metre reading and the usage was extremely high, and he could see a few weeks ago there was a cable running into next door through the loft so he decided to cut it.
“We were left with no power for the night. When Scottish Power came out the next day they got a locksmith and police to check next door.
“The next day it was like a crime scene, there was a police guard there and CID were there searching and clearing out the growing house.
“They found they had been illegally tapping into our electricity supply, to run and power their very own weed farm.”
Officers discovered two bedrooms full of plants and seized growing equipment to produce the Class B drug.
Kirsteen who had suspected something strange was going on, watched on in shock as containers were packed up.
She said: “I knew there was something dodgy going on, I’d said a few weeks ago that something wasn’t sitting right, and we had a joke about it.
“When the neighbours moved in, they said someone is going to be renting the house. They would stay a few nights then disappear and then come back.”
Kirsteen now wants to warn others in Ayrshire villages to keep a look out as the surge in power could have led to a fire “endangering her kids”.
She said: “You just don’t expect it to be next door, but the guy from Scottish Power said it is more common than you think.
“I have three kids, with that amount of power and no one in the house it could have led to a fire, that is putting everyone else at risk.”
A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: “Around 5:10pm on Thursday, November 12 police received a report of a cannabis cultivation site in Castle Road, Dalmellington. A number of plants were discovered and enquiries are ongoing.”
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