‘Like Police, Camera Action’ - Sleepy village in shock after £500,000 cannabis farm discovery

The cannabis plants discovered in Ditchingham, near Bungay. Picture: Norfolk Police (Image: Archant)

On Tuesday, Norfolk Constabulary unearthed a farm on Norwich Road in Ditchingham and seized more than 700 cannabis plants in the process - with an estimated street value of £500,000.Today, members of the village community have reacted with shock at the discovery, which saw 41-year-old Hue Lieu Nguyen arrested at the scene and charged with production of the plants.

He is due to appear in Norwich Magistrates Court on Thursday.

Cliff Pegg, 77, who lives on Beevors Garden in the village, said: "I am shocked. I have been here a year and it has been quiet, people will nod as they see each other and say hello and that has always how it has been.

"This is the kind of thing you only expect to see on Police, Camera, Action on television."

Nazrul Islam, 70, who has lived in the village five years and is also of Beevors Garden, added: "It is very surprising to hear. Maybe somewhere like Cambridge, but around here you would not expect it."

But the discovery came as less of a surprise to a 60-year-old former police officer living in the village, however, who did not wish to be named.

He said: "From what I saw in my 20 years as a City of London police officer it doesn't come as a big surprise - people carrying out this type of operation want to be out of the way so will find somewhere quiet and unassuming."

James Smith, 70 and of Hollow Hill Road, added: "I'm not particularly surprised - just because we are in the country does not mean what goes on in the city doesn't happen here too."

Doris Roberts, 84 and of Norwich Road, said: "My daughter lives in Bungay and that has really deteriorated, it wouldn't have surprised me there but it does in Ditchingham."

Nestled closed to the Norfolk and Suffolk border, Ditchingham is a quiet village with a small population.