POLICE are investigating a fire which broke out in a derelict garage just days after a raid in which they seized thousands of pounds worth of cannabis.

On Tuesday last week a large team of police officers went into the disused Frog Hall garages in Frog Lane, off Abenbury Road, Wrexham, and discovered an illegal factory where cannabis was being grown.

A senior police officer has estimated the cannabis to be worth £500,000.

Three men appeared before Flintshire magistrates in Mold last week where they admitted being concerned in the production of the cannabis – a class B drug – and were sent for sentence at Mold Crown Court on April 22.

Fire broke out in the building in the early hours of Sunday.

The man who reported it to the fire service, and who does not wish to be named, said: “I was on my way home and saw flames coming from underneath the door.

“There was also smoke coming from underneath the roof-line.

“I thought that with it having been a garage there might be gas bottles inside the building, which could have been potentially dangerous to people living in the houses nearby, so I called the fire service immediately.

“I stayed around and saw a large police presence.”

A spokesman for North Wales Fire and Rescue Service said: “We received a call to the Frog Lane garage in Wrexham at 2.23am on Sunday.

“It is a derelict building and there was fire damage to three wooden planters inside.

“The cause of the fire is not known and is under investigation.

“The police are also aware of the incident.”

A police spokesman confirmed the fire had started in the same building where the cannabis had been stored.

He added: “We are now carrying out our own inquiries.”