A cannabis factory hidden in an exclusive £750,000 home in a quiet Cheam street has been shut down after a police raid.

Sutton CID officers swooped on the five-bedroom property in Champneys Close last Thursday to find six rooms packed full of large pots of the plant.

A police spokesman said a sophisticated 24-hour heating and lighting system had been set up to grow the stash, protected from prying eyes by thick black curtains at the windows.

The electricity supply had been rewired to by-pass the meter and come straight from the mains, work that had involved digging up the road outside, he said.

Police carried out the raid after Sutton’s safer parks teams’ officers found 60 large bags stacked in the rear of a white van they stopped in Wickham Avenue at 4.30pm during a routine operation.

Five of the bags contained cannabis leaves and the remainder consisted of harvested cannabis plant roots, fertilizer and liquid feed.

The driver, a man in his 40s, was arrested for being concerned in the supply of controlled drugs and has been remanded in custody.

Detective Sergeant Paula Bond, who is leading the investigation, said officers had made a “major seizure” of cannabis and stopped a “sophisticated drugs operation” in the borough.

She said: “It is one of the biggest cannabis factories to have been uncovered in Sutton in recent times.

“It is also worth bearing in mind that most people associate cannabis factories with non-residential buildings.

“We are discovering more and more of this sort of activity being conducted in houses, particularly in the rental sector.’’

Sutton detectives urge anyone who sees any suspicious activities to contact Sutton police station 0300 123 1212 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.