Pensioners’ fragrant garden plants spark police drugs raid

A COMMON garden plant which smells like cannabis has led to a police raid on an elderly couple’s house.

The pink flowering moss is thought to be to blame for a strong smell of cannabis in Courtney Road, Kingswood, near Bristol, which has attracted the attention of drug users looking for their next smoke — and the drugs squad.

Police have apologised to Ivor Wiltshire, 77, and his wife Margaret, 79, for raiding their home with sniffer dogs to search for a cannabis factory in the loft.

After finding no evidence of illegal activity the culprit is thought to be a seemingly harmless garden plant which grows small pink flowers known as moss phlox or phlox subulata.

Mr and Mrs Wiltshire bought the plants at a garden centre for just £2 and planted it in the front and back garden of their home four years ago, but it recently started to give off a smell similar to that of cannabis.

The suspicious smell led to the police helicopter regularly hovering above the Wiltshire’s home using infra-red cameras to search for heat source signs associated with the growing of cannabis.

The couple were on a two-week holiday in Madeira when they returned home to find their front door had been smashed in by police in an early morning raid.

The week before they went on holiday, Mr Wiltshire said his community-minded wife contacted the local police station to make them aware that they would be away and the house would be empty.

“When we got back we were met at the airport by my son who said he had bad news, and he told us the police had raided the house,” said Mr Wiltshire.

“They had smashed in the front door and the porch door and the loft was left open.

“They knew everything about us, our age, who we were and that we were on holiday, but they still went ahead.

“I couldn’t believe it, a couple of pensioners hiding a cannabis factory — you couldn’t make it up.

“We couldn’t stay in the house for about a week while the doors were fixed, and now, after 40 years, I just can’t stand to be here after all this.”

Mr Wiltshire said he had been told by neighbours and passers-by about the smell of cannabis, but because of an operation he could not smell it.

“I can’t smell anything and my wife doesn’t know what cannabis smells like so we’ve just gone on what people tell us,” he said.

“I put the plant everywhere in the front and back garden.

“Now I’ve ripped it all up because of everything that has happened, I couldn’t sleep one night thinking about it all so I got up at 2.30am and was out there putting it all in bin bags for the tip.”