Cannabis farm equipment on ‘industrial scale’ removed from Aboyne’s Huntly Arms Hotel

By Ben Hendry

January 18 2023, 1:11 pm

Police are unloading Aboyne cannabis farm equipment from the Huntly Arms Hotel after a discovery this week. Image: Scott Baxter / DC Thomson

Police are loading skips with cannabis farm equipment taken from an abandoned Aboyne hotel.

Officers raided the Huntly Arms Hotel on Monday morning after builders made the drugs discovery when arriving to carry out repairs.

The venue has been watched over since then, and today police began taking out piles of material used to help grow the Class B substance.

The Huntly Arms Hotel in Aboyne has stood on Charlestown Road for centuries. Image: DC Thomson

The police have been carrying out bulky ducts and other equipment. Image: DC Thomson

One shocked local told the P&J it looked like drugs were being produced on an “industrial scale”.

Our images show a skip piled high with aluminum tubes, police carting wheelbarrows outside the hotel and plant tubs being carried out.

The doors have been boarded up for years, and villagers are curious about how access was gained to the hotel. Image: DC Thomson

The skips are being piled high. Image: DC Thomson

The Huntly Arms Hotel has been closed since 2019, and locals recently stepped up their fight to breathe new life into it.

Repairs were arranged after Aberdeenshire Council imposed an “amenity notice” ordering the owners to carry out maintenance work.

Black plastic plant pots were seen being carried out. Image: Scott Baxter/DC Thomson

Officers are seen here removing mechanical equipment. Image: Scott Baxter/DC Thomson

The owner’s local architect, Robert Lamb, helped arrange the string of upgrades.

And he was flabbergasted by the find, having last been in the building just weeks ago.

‘That’s the last thing we expected to find’

Mr Lamb said: “It was a complete surprise to me, that’s the last thing we expected to find.

“We were in there on December 18 and there was nothing like this then, it’s just absolutely bizarre.

“It shows how quickly these things can work.”

Mr Lamb added that nobody in the village seemed to realise anything was going on at the shuttered hotel.

Officers used a wheelbarrow to take material from the hotel and into waiting vans. Image: Scott Baxter/DC Thomson

Work can begin once Aboyne cannabis farm equipment is removed

And he explained how the “hiccup” has waylaid the works.

Mr Lamb said: “We’ve not been able to do anything, we think it will be about a week until we can begin after being hampered by what happened on Monday.

“That put a spanner in the works, and now we aren’t sure when we can start again.

“It’s to do with the availability of builders, as well.

“But we think the work needed should just take a week, once we get started.”

Officers strapped on head-torches as they navigated the darkened Deeside building. Image: Scott Baxter/DC Thomson

Police personnel made several trips back and forth. Image: Scott Baxter/DC Thomson

Four men appeared in court facing drugs charges on Tuesday.

Fabio Marku, 27, and Glevis Xhepa, 26, who are both of no fixed abode, appeared in the dock alongside Arjel Leshi, 24, and Donald Xhepa, 29, who both gave general addresses of Harrow, in Greater London.

They are expected to appear again in the next week.