Hash plant discovered as renter welcomes police

Lower Austrian police have said they discovered a cannabis farm in a flat after smelling marijuana when they were at the building investigating a different case.Officials in Krems district said today (Tues) Maria Laach two policemen asked a resident whether they could check his apartment after they noticed the suspicious odour at a housing estate.Police said the officers accompanied public servants who went to the block of flats over a problem with another renter yesterday.The 39-year-old man suspected of illegally growing cannabis immediately allowed the officers in – who found 86 cannabis plants as well as small amounts of other drugs at his flat.The resident told police he would not sell any of the marijuana he had been growing as he ran the plantation strictly for personal consumption – which is also illegal in Austria.Police decided not to put the man in custody, but said he was facing drug charges.It was the second major drug haul in the province within three weeks as investigators recently confiscated 8.8 kilograms of heroin with a street sale value of around 500,000 Euros. Four suspects – Serbian citizens aged between 24 and 43 years – are in custody after the raid in the city of Wiener Neustadt.