Police discovered an elaborate drugs factory after water from a high-tech growing system began pouring underneath the front door of a home.

Neighbours, totally unaware of what was going on inside the terraced house, raised the alarm after the water began gushing from the door and through walls.

Officers called to the scene to deal with the flooding in Meeching Road, Newhaven, found 350 cannabis plants growing upstairs in a hydroponics water and lighting system.

They raided other properties in Peacehaven and Brighton immediately after and found "substantial quantities of money" but no other drugs.

Lewes District Commander CI Bob Gough described the haul, which was taken away by officers, as a "significant drugs factory" and has praised the finding as another blow to drug dealers on his patch.

He said: "The size and quantity of the plants involved would obviously lead us to conclude they were not for personal use.

"We will leave no stone unturned in the fight against drug dealers and we will do everything in our power to ensure dealers are lawfully harassed and that the drugs trade on our patch is disrupted."

Despite CI Gough's praise, it is clear the discovery would not have been made unless the water, apparently gushing from a leak in the system, was found.

A member of the public raised the alarm after passing the house. A 38 year-old man was arrested and was being held in police custody yesterday.

Neighbours of the arrested man said they were surprised to find out what had been going on and described him as a "lovely bloke" and a family man.

Brian Shoesmith, from Meeching Road, said: "He was always incredibly polite and just a really nice guy.

"I wouldn't have suspected anything like this was going on at all.

"When the police arrived the officer told me to go back inside because there was a lot more work to be done by them than they first thought, so that makes sense now.

"If they found that many plants no wonder they had a bit more work on.

"He is just a lovely bloke, he brought me round a bottle of vodka at Christmas and said he hoped he hadn't been making too much noise.

"He had been doing a lot of building work inside."

Mr Shoesmith said water began pouring through his downstairs wall and leaked through part of the ceiling.

Police officers guarded the house overnight after declaring it unsafe because of the large quantity of water and electrical set-up.

Electricity and water engineers were at the house yesterday morning along with police forensic officers.

DC Mike Baldwin, of Newhaven CID, said: "The cannabis factory found at the property is an elaborate set up and extremely well designed.

"This find is considered to be a significant step forward in reducing drug supply and although cannabis was reclassified to a class C drug, producing and supplying cannabis remains a serious offence and can mean up to 14 years imprisonment and a fine.

"I would like to encourage anyone who has information about people supplying drugs to contact us and we will robustly target those individuals."

The discovery of the plants is the latest in a series of finds by police.

On March 11, officers raided a home in Rock Close, Southwick, and found substantial amounts of cannabis.

More than 450 plants were found growing in a house in Knowle Lane, Lewes, on March 8.

Cannabis and stolen property was found during two police raids in Moulsecoomb on February 22 and a snow shower led police to find more than 60 plants growing in a house in Whitehawk on February 20.

Neighbours grew suspicious after snow melted extremely quickly from the roof of the house in Cowfold Road.

The hydroponics system inside was heating the roof so much the snow disappeared.