LONDON (Reuters) – The first cannabis farm has been found in the historic financial district of London, where office buildings have been emptied due to the closure of the COVID-19 distribution, British police said on Wednesday.
Police in London said 826 cannabis plants were found in a building near the Bank of England. Police said there were reports of a ‘strong smell of cannabis’ that led to the raid.
“This is the first marijuana factory in the city, which is undoubtedly being set up in response to fewer people moving around during the pandemic and possibly noticing unusual activities,” police said in a statement.
The city of London, home to the world’s largest commercial insurance market, banks and fund managers, has been largely abandoned since March after most employees were asked to work from home.
Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, said during an online event on Wednesday that people would probably make jokes about what the central bank staff did.
“We are now going to make the endless jokes about ‘now we know what the Bank of England was working on’,” he said. “I’m sure there will be many other jokes. It’s very quiet around the Bank of England, I should say. ‘
Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Edited by Paul Simao