POLICE raided a flat in Elland – and discovered cannabis plants worth thousands of pounds in a secret hideaway.

The plants, worth around £6,000, were found concealed behind a specially-constructed garage partition.

It was a successful operation for Brighouse police, which followed a tip-off from the public.

Now police are trying to track down the man who had been living at the flat.

Police officers broke into the flat yesterday morning and initially after smashing down the front door, found only six plants in an upstairs room which doubled as a cannabis nursery.

But Pc Nick Bamforth and his colleagues were convinced there must be more plants and their perseverance paid off when within an hour of arriving they discovered the partition.

Operation Heelman was undertaken following an anonymous tip-off.

Police had been given information that drug-dealing was taking place at the flat.

They made enquiries to the estate agents who rented the flat out.

A woman who works for the agents, who the Examiner is not naming to protect their identity, said there had been no reason to suspect any criminal behaviour.

She said: “I had been in the property and had never seen or smelt anything untoward.

“It was a bit untidy but that’s guys for you. He had been living there for quite some time, several years, and there were no problems.

“He was one month’s behind with his rent but we are always chasing tenants for things like that.”

Pc Bamforth said: “This operation started after we came across an individual who had drugs in his possession.

“We had an anonymous tip-off through the 101 phone number so we knew that drugs were at the premises and we obtained a search warrant.

“I am really chuffed that from a very small piece of cannabis it has let us to all this.

“It’s a decent area, the information has come to us locally and within a short space of time we have got involved and hopefully this will boost public confidence.

“When we found the initial six cannabis plants my experience told me that where there’s a nursery there a ‘main hub’ somewhere within the main premises.

“We were thinking where else is there? We liaised with the estate agents who mentioned that the rear section of the garage had not been erected by the owner. That was enough for us.”

A further 30 cannabis plants were found worth around £4,000 to £5,000.

The overall operation was led by Sgt Dean Maddocks who said: “Drug dealing is around in most areas and we had some good information.

“It’s a case of keep chipping away at things.”