A MAJOR cannabis factory, one of the biggest ever discovered in the Greater Manchester area, has been found at a house in Little Hulton.

Officers found about 1,000 plants when they raided a property in Manchester Road West at around 7am yesterday.

A 68-year-old man from Warrington has been arrested and taken to Eccles Police Station.

Insp Geoff Wessell, from Swinton police, said: "The basement of the building had been converted to create the perfect conditions for the growth and cropping of cannabis plants.

"We believe the plants amount to one of the largest ever seizures of commercially-grown cannabis in the North-west. This is one of the most professionally-run factories we have ever seen."

A 27-year-old man is still being questioned by detectives after a second cannabis farm was discovered yesterday at a house in Westwood Avenue, Little Hulton. A haul of 32 plants was seized.