THE largest hash plantation to have ever been found in Europe has been uncovered in the sleepy village of Llíber (Alicante), say Guardia Civil officers.

They found over 10,000 cannabis plants in 16 greenhouses in a rural hideaway just outside the hamlet.

A British man of 45 and an 18-year-old Spanish man have been arrested.

Investigations started when a planning permission application for a commercial vegetable plot on the land in question was knocked back by Llíber town hall.

Authorities suspected the landowners had gone ahead with their plans to trade as a farm anyway, and searched the area for evidence.

Once on site, they found 43 kilos of hash processed into half-kilo packets destined for sale in Holland and Belgium.

They seized the drugs and the plants, and also a van with an English registration plate.

Officers have not ruled out further arrests, since they have uncovered a large amount of IT and telecoms equipment in the luxury villa on the plot and their examination of this may throw up additional evidence.