Seventeen people charged with a multi-million pound cannabis factory in Gravesend have appeared in court.

The cannabis farm, containing 1,600 plants, was discovered in an industrial estate in Canal Basin last June.

Warrants were carried out on March 14 and further arrests were made the following day.

Thirteen people appeared before Medway Magistrates’ Court on April 25 in relation to these offences.

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The cannabis farm discovered in Canal Basin

And all were bailed and are due to appear at Maidstone Crown Court on June 24.

Colin Walls, 51, of The Avenue, Gravesend, has been charged with three counts of abstracting/using electricity without authority and three counts of conspiring to produce cannabis.

Four people, two from Bromley and Abbey Wood, were arrested in connection with the cannabis factory in Gravesend and remanded to custody after appearing at Maidstone Crown Court on April 12.

David Graham, 50, of Plaistow Lane, Bromley, has been charged with five counts of abstracting/using electricity without authority and six counts of conspiring to produce cannabis.

James Allen, 38, of Woolwich Road, Abbey Wood, has been charged with four counts of abstracting/using electricity without authority and six counts of conspiring to produce cannabis.

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Police arrive at the scene last June

The investigation into the Gravesend cannabis factory led officers to the discovery of further farms in Sittingbourne and Norfolk.

Alan Marquiss, 68, of Disraeli Close, Thamesmead, was one of the men apprehended in relation to the offences in Sittingbourne.

He has been charged with one count of abstracting/using electricity without authority and one count of conspiring to produce cannabis.