Quote: Drug dealers are renting rooms in middle class, suburban homes to grow cannabis in as they attract less suspicion from the police.
"I do have some very unruly types living near me at the moment who are dealing drugs," says Amy - not her real name.
"But the times they've been raided and I have had a wry smile thinking 'you're in the wrong place, you should be over here, this is the house with all the drugs in,' but nobody knows."
Amy is a company executive from Cheshire's "gin and Jag" belt. She also grows cannabis in her loft.
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I think my neighbours would be really shocked if they knew what I was doing”
Amy Cannabis farmer She started growing cannabis after a colleague told her how to do it. She had been buying cannabis for her partner, who has multiple sclerosis, but was not comfortable meeting dealers in deserted car parks.
Within weeks of finding out how to grow a decent crop in her own home, she had become the latest upmarket recruit to cannabis farming. Now she uses the proceeds to supplement her already substantial income.
Evidence uncovered by 5 live Investigates suggests that there are many more like her.
Middle-class criminality At a time when even relatively affluent people are feeling the economic squeeze, the opportunity to turn a quick profit is, for some members of Britain's middle class, proving irresistible. |