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UK: Stolen Energy 'Fuelling Cannabis Factories'

Source: PA News

Sunday 04 Jul 2004

Author: Graham Hiscott

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Increasing numbers of people are setting up cannabis factories and
tampering with gas or electricity meters to avoid paying the high heating
bills required to cultivate plants, it was claimed today.

British Gas has uncovered what it believes are cannabis growing enterprises
in Derby, Dagenham, Bristol and Manchester while investigating unusually
high consumption of energy.

A couple from Kent were convicted last month of drugs offences after
British Gas investigators found a cannabis growing operation at a house in
Sidcup.

The company has issued a fresh warning about the dangers of 'stealing' gas
and electricity.

The UK Revenue Protection Association estimates about UKP340 million worth
of gas and electricity is 'stolen' from UK energy companies every year.

Interfering with a meter is the most common method used but other examples
include tapping into someone else's supply or even connecting to the
electricity from street lights.

Harry Metcalfe, general manager of the investigating unit at British Gas,
confirmed the apparent increase in cannabis factories.

'We don't seem to have come across them in the distant past - it is a new
phenomenon for us,' he said.

'It probably takes a lot of energy to keep the place hot enough for the
cannabis plants to grow well.'

He added that gas and electricity theft was now widespread.

'It is happening in every town in this country.

'It could be people who are hard-up but at the other end of the scale we
have the rich with their six-bedroom country houses and huge swimming pools
- and a huge heating bill to go with it.'

British Gas warns tampering with a meter is dangerous and could lead to
electrocution, a fire or even an explosion.

:UKP113k shock for cannabis cafe owner

Source: The Worthing Argus

Friday 02 Jul 2004

Author: Huw Borland

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Jailed cannabis cafe owner Christopher Baldwin could face a UKP113,000 bill.

He has already served six weeks in prison for his involvement in the
Amsterdam-style Quantum Leaf cafe in Worthing.

But new laws mean he could be forced to pay back any money he made from the
business.

Police say tens of thousands of pounds were made in the venture.

However, Baldwin, 53, who campaigns for the legalisation of cannabis, said
the Quantum Leaf, in Rowlands Road, Worthing, was run as a political
statement and left him in debt.

He will appear at Chichester Crown Court on July 15, when a judge will
decide how much, if anything, the campaigner should be fined.

Baldwin lives with his carer, Trevor Scott, in a two-bedroom council
bungalow in Carnegie Close, Worthing.

He said: "The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) says I owe about UKP130,000.
I wish we had it.

"The figure is pure conjecture. They probably watched the cafe when it was
open and counted how many customers went in.

"But the shop was not busy for the first five months until it was busted.
Then it really took off because of the publicity.

"Not everyone who came bought two or three bags of weed. Some would buy a
ready-rolled joint for UKP2 or a hash cake for UKP1.50."

Police recovered hundreds of pounds in cash and large amounts of marijuana
during raids at the cafe in 2002 and 2003.

Chief Inspector Russ Whitfield said the Quantum Leaf and another cafe in
Brougham Road, East Worthing, were earning thousands of pounds every week
and were devoid of any political stance.

But Baldwin said: "The money the police took off me was owed to the people
who gave us the cannabis.

"I did not have the money to buy the cannabis. I found people who believed
in what I was doing and were prepared to supply cannabis up front so I
could pay later.

"In the last bust the police found UKP8,000 but that money was to pay
people and should never have gone to the cafe.

"It left me in a lot of debt. I have lots of overdue credit card payments
and they are foreclosing on me.

"I also have council tax bills left over from the cafes."

Baldwin was jailed at Chichester Crown Court on January 9 after pleading
guilty to allowing cannabis to be used and having cannabis with intent to
supply.

CPS spokesman Paul Hayward said the application to fine Baldwin was made
under the Proceeds of Crime Act, introduced last year, which empowers
courts to seize the assets of someone who has been convicted of a crime.