POLICE have raided an empty Brierley Hill nail bar this morning to find hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of cannabis plants inside.

West Midlands Police has been investigating The Nail Bar hair and beauty salon, on the town High Street, over the last few weeks, after members of the public and callers to Crimestoppers alerted police to the sealed salon.

And officers gained entrance to the shuttered premises this morning - and arrested a man hiding out on the salon roof.

A non-speaking Vietnamese man, thought to be in his 40s, is currently in police custody being questioned through an interpreter.

Following a forensic investigation for fingerprints, officers from nearby Brierley Hill police station began the tedious job of counting, logging and bagging all 542 plants - which were all in various stages of development, with many fully grown and set for harvesting, before they take them away for destroying.

Officers also found a sophisticated ventilation and watering system, litres of fertiliser and soil as well as drug paraphernalia including many heat lamps.

Sergeant Cliff Tompkinson, who is leading the investigation, said it was difficult to estimate the street value of the plants, but said it would definitely be hundreds of thousands of pounds.