A stash of almost 800 cannabis plants was seized during a drug bust at a house on a quiet residential estate.

Police raided the four-bedroom house in Princes Close, on the West Park estate, Uckfield, after two officers out on patrol noticed a strong smell of cannabis in the area.

Following investigations into the source of the smell, the property was raided at 11.30am yesterday and police arrested one man who is now being held in police custody.

Officers at the scene said there were around 775 cannabis plants in the house with a street value of tens of thousands of pounds.

The garage and all of the rooms in the house had been adapted with specialised growing equipment and were filled with the plants, police said.A young mother who lives in neighbouring Ellis Way said she could not believe what had happened. She said: "I thought I lived in a quiet respectable neighbourhood."

She said she had been outside her home chatting with another neighbour when two police vans pulled up outside the house in Princes Close and officers burst into it.

Another neighbour in Ellis Way, who lives opposite the house, said she would never have suspected anything unusual was happening.

People who live nearby said they had not noticed the smell coming from the house, which had its curtains drawn and boards blocking gaps around the garage door.

Inspector Richard Allum, of Uckfield Police Station, said: "This was an excellent result which stemmed from some very good investigative police work. I am extremely pleased that the cannabis will not reach those it was intended for."