HUNDREDS of cannabis plants with a street value of more than £20,000 have been recovered this morning following a drugs bust in Southampton.

Officers from the city's drug investigation unit carried out the early morning raid in Shakespeare Avenue, Portswood and arrested a man found inside.

It's the 50th makeshift cannabis factory uncovered in the city in the past 18 months.

Between 400 and 500 plants at all different stages of growth were discovered in four rooms of the rented property which had been specially converted for the cultivation of the drug.