POLICE officers “smashed their way” into a Worcester drugs den before seizing cannabis and paraphernalia, with the operation described as “one of the biggest in the city”.

A 43-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of production or being concerned in the production of a controlled drug, following the raid in Barnes Way on Sunday.

An eyewitness, who did not wish to be named, said officers broke down the door around 11am before waiting until dark to remove the drugs, and didn’t leave the scene until midnight.

“Police came with those big hammers they use and entered the property where there was a cannabis farm,” he said. “One of the officers said it was one of the biggest in the city he’d ever seen.”

The witness said up to a dozen officers were at the house “for hours on end” throughout the day, and he was confused as to why they “didn’t start taking things out until dark”.

Around half an hour before the raid, he said two officers knocked on the door and then left the scene when there was no answer.

He said a few minutes after, “someone exited the house and walked off down the street”.

“It seemed strange strange to knock the door and give them the chance to get away.”

Referring to police camped outside the house in vans, the witness said: “They were sitting there all day, they had people coming to dismantle the electronics but they waited until later to cart things away.”

The pots that appeared to have been used to grow the cannabis were emptied and “stacked up outside the front window”, he said.

He said the paraphernalia included several four foot tall stainless steel cylinders.

Western Power Distribution vans were also parked at the property.

“It’s a very strange situation at that house,” the witness added, going on to say, “it’s about time” more drug dens are raided as they are the “scourge of our city”.

It is understood the house is a rental property and the current occupants have been there for a few months and are possibly eastern European, according to the witness.

A West Mercia Police spokesman said: “We conducted a search at an address on Barnes Way on Sunday and a quantity of cannabis plants were seized.”

They added that the man arrested has been released on police bail.