CANNABIS with a street value of more than �1.5m has been seized and 10 men from Comet country charged following an investigation into allegations of drugs trafficking. As part of Operation Pedal, Herts Police stopped a car heading into the county in January and arrested the driver.

CANNABIS with a street value of more than �1.5m has been seized and 10 men from Comet country charged following an investigation into allegations of drugs trafficking.

As part of Operation Pedal, Herts Police stopped a car heading into the county in January and arrested the driver.

Officers allegedly found a large quantity of cannabis within the vehicle.

On the same day, two search warrants were simultaneously executed at a home in Hatfield and in an industrial unit in Milton Keynes.

Details could not be reported at the time, while Herts Police’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit carried out further investigations.

A police spokesman said: "These premises contained what police believed to be fully functioning cannabis farms containing plants of the high potency 'skunk' variety.

"Other search warrants executed that day and on subsequent days over the following weeks resulted in the arrest of various persons for drug trafficking offences and further significant seizures."

A smaller scale suspected cannabis farm was discovered in Milton Keynes and drugs seized from a house in Hitchin.

Those charged last week as part of the investigation are Christopher Judd, 27, of Whitethorn Lane in Letchworth GC, Warwick Howkins, 36, of Allison in Letchworth GC, Calvin Rowley, 28, of Ralph Swingler Place in Letchworth GC, Scott Marler, 28, of Jackmans Place in Letchworth GC and Martin Brothers, 28, of Station Road in Letchworth GC.

Others charged are Robin Wallis, 45, and Martin Hoey, 42, both of Brampton Park Road in Hitchin, and Paul Gates, 44, of Chaucer Way in Hitchin, Glenn Ross, 27, of Mercia Road in Baldock, and Wayne Vickers, 30, of Bilberry Road in Clifton. Two men from Milton Keynes were also charged.

The offences include conspiracy to supply cannabis, the production of cannabis and the abstraction of electricity.

The charged men are due to appear before magistrates next month.