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Damn, That's a Lot of Weed

UK police found a giant weed "forest" in London.

A giant stash of marijuana was uncovered Thursday by a group of unsuspecting UK police, who were initially called to seize a "few cannabis plants", but instead stumbled on "a forest!"

The discovery encompassed 150 cannabis plants, some over five feet tall, covering an area "the size of a football pitch." The epic find was made in the leafy borough of Grove ward in south west London by the Kingston upon Thames police force. The area is also not usually known for any drug-related activity.

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"We got a call from one of the security guards down at Thames water that there was some suspicious activity going on," Sean Carpenter, an inspector for north neighbourhoods of Kingston, told me over the phone. "That's when we came across this quite large area of cannabis plants."

In a statement, PC Sarah Henderson, of Kingston borough described the scene as "a small forest of Christmas trees" that was complete with a "gazebo." A view that was pretty much corroborated by enthusiastic tweets from the Kingston police Twitter accounts:

Kingston Police called to a few cannabis plants. We found a forest! #CannabisTrees #TheseArentXmasTrees #WeedKiller pic.twitter.com/TfNyFZF9Ft
— Kingston Police (@MPSKingston) September 25, 2015

The area where the weed growers set up camp was described by PC Henderson as a "really remote spot," requiring a 20 minute hike through wasteland. The site, however, wasn't quite remote enough. And according to Carpenter, it's likely the 150-strong army of pot plants have been growing wild due to their large size, and the fact they've still got buds on them.

The find is pretty unique, given that the UK has recently seen a 17 percent drop in police raids on cannabis farms. Despite the best efforts of the weed gardeners, however, the police force is set on decimating its find.

"All [the cultivators'] time, trouble and gardening skills will go unrewarded, as the whole lot will now be destroyed by police," said Henderson.

Carpenter said that there were currently a host of police officers at the 'forest,' awaiting the services that would destroy the plants. "They'll probably turn up with a seven and a half ton truck, cut it all down, take it to a police site and shred it so it's of no use," he said.

"Hopefully the owner will maybe pop to the police station and say his plants are missing," said Carpenter. "But I doubt it."

An interesting find on Grove ward. We're going on a bear hunt!!!#saynotodrugs #Grove pic.twitter.com/bzZZULcq4H
— MPS Grove SNT (@MPSGroveSNT) September 25, 2015