WATCH: 'Cannabis factory' set on fire to demonstrate the risk skunk farms pose to public

A mock cannabis factory was set ablaze today to show the risk that skunk farms pose to the public.

An area replicating a room in a house where a sophisticated cannabis farm had been set up was set ablaze this morning at Merseyside fire services training HQ in Kirkdale.

READ: 11 recent cannabis busts that made the headlines in Merseyside

The fire broke out as a result of dodgy wiring commonly used by drugs gangs to abstract electricity and bypass the electricity meter.

Flames tore quickly through the house and left it gutted within a matter of minutes.

The emergency services hoped the graphic demo will hit home the message that the public need to speak out about dangerous and illegal drug factories in the communities and stop criminal gangs profiting while putting innocent lives in danger.

Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Richardson from Merseyside Polices specialist cannabis dismantling team said: "Cannabis is not a harmless drug and its production is large in scale and large in profit here in Merseyside, as well as elsewhere in the country.

The quantities that it is being grown in here means it is rarely people doing it to feed their own casual habit - it is organised criminal gangs who are setting them up and controlling them. This is bringing associated problems such as violent crime and gun crime to the streets of our communities as these criminals seek to steal each other's crops and money.

GALLERY - Take a look at our pictures of the demonstration:

Mock cannabis factory set on fire

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WATCH: 'Cannabis factory' set on fire to demonstrate the risk skunk farms pose to public