Police have seized cannabis plants with an estimated street value of £250,000 after a raid on a house in Bradwell, near Braintree.

Officers from the tactical team at Braintree went to the house on Thursday evening and found 350 of the plants and a variety of cultivation equipment needed to grow them.

A police spokesman said the plants were in various stages of growth and would have had a street value of a quarter of a million pounds if they had been allowed to grow fully.

A man from Braintree, aged 28, and a man from Bradwell-on-Sea were arrested for questioning in connection with the raid.

The Braintree has been released on police bail until August 28. The other man was charged with three offences, production of a controlled drug, possession of cannabis resin and obstructing electricity.

He has been released on conditional bail to appear at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on Thursday.

The seizure of the drugs follows another raid at a home in Sible Hedingham, near Halstead, on Wednesday when 118 cannabis plants were found. The two raids are not linked.

Seized - Supt Peter Sheldrake with the cannabis plants

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