THE name Michael Cullum was not high on the list of major criminals in Bournemouth.

He was a man with a list of previous convictions for drug offences but was not known as one of the main players in the town's drug trade.

But following a routine stop by two plain clothed police officers, a huge drug-dealing operation was uncovered in a modest street in Southbourne.

Cullum's operation was so slick that none of his neighbours were aware of what was going on behind closed doors.

The bathroom of the Southwick Road property had been transformed to cultivate 17 cannabis plants, and five blocks of cannabis resin were found above the PG Tips in a kitchen cupboard.

The biggest find of all was a secret compartment under the stairs which housed cash - mostly £20 notes -- worth an estimated £75,000, cannabis resin worth nearly £32,222 and 6,725 ecstasy tablets worth around £13,450.

There was also herbal cannabis worth more than £7,000 and a quantity of amphetamine with a street value of £117,813.

Police also stumbled across a large collection of firearms, including 16 rounds of live 9mm ammunition, which it is illegal to possess, 16 air pistols and several air rifles. Cullum had been automatically banned for life from possessing firearms and ammunition after serving more than three years in prison.

Specially-trained search officers also stumbled across a large amount of Second World War memorabilia including uniforms and helmets, as well as deactivated pistols, machine guns and even a rocket launcher.

Together this collection is estimated to be worth £130,000 and consisted of more items than that owned by a military memorabilia shop owner who was calculating the value of it.

Police believe these items would have been paid for by Cullum's drug career.

The search of the property in Southwick Road took more than two days due to the sheer number of items that were being stored in each of the rooms.

Although Cullum had been left the detached house in Southwick Road by his late parents, he lived in Grower Gardens, East Howe.

Prior to this case he had a list of 13 previous convictions for numerous offences of possessing and supplying drugs going back to 1983.

DC Craig Travers of Bournemouth CID, senior investigating officer, said:

"With his history of drugs convictions, obviously he was someone that we knew but we certainly weren't aware of the extent of his drug dealing. We never thought of him as a significant drug dealer but we would now class him as a major drug dealer in the area.

"It's fair to say that we get a lot of good results from good policing work on the street. This was an outstanding example of it really."

First published: May 18