A HUGE cannabis farm with more than 5,000 plants has been uncovered next to a church in Radcliffe.

Police officers found more than 5,000 plants with a street value of £750,000 when they raided a three-storey derelict building in Milltown Street on Tuesday morning.

They knocked down the reinforced door at 8.30am and discovered cannabis plants in different stages of growth on all three floors.

A police helicopter using thermal imaging equipment was deployed to fly over the area, showing the building up as “red” because of the heated lights.

Residents watched as the building was raided by officers from Radcliffe neighbourhood policing team, together with intelligence officers, members of Bury’s drugs team, and officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

Sergeant Martin Coyne, from the neighbourhood policing team, said: “This is the largest cannabis farm in Bury for many years. We have taken a lot of cannabis off the streets.”

The building, which is next to Bridge Methodist Church, had been derelict for around five years.

Footage from surveillance cameras at the church has been handed to the police.

Jian Wang, aged 26, has been charged with being concerned in the cultivation of cannabis and abstraction of electricity.

He was due to appear before Bury Magistrates Court this afternoon.