A SUSPECTED cannabis factory has been discovered at a house in Basingstoke after a small fire broke out.

A neighbour raised the alarm at 9.15am after spotting smoke coming through the roof.

She said a man who came out of the house, ran off when firefighters arrived.

Police officers investigating the house in Selby Walk, Popley, Basingstoke, would not confirm what had been found.

But a statement subsequently released by Hampshire Constabulary said: "Although the fire is not being treated as suspicious, police are conducting inquiries into the contents of the property."

The neighbour said firefighters and police told her they had discovered a large number of cannabis plants inside the house.

She said one police officer said the inside of the house was like a scene from the gangster film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Basingstoke fire station manager Ryan Thurman, said when firefighters arrived at the end-of-terrace property, they had to break in. They then discovered an air conditioning unit in an upper storey had caught fire.

He said the fire caused only minor damage, but the fire crew called the police to investigate.

The neighbour raised the alarm after returning from taking her children to school last Thursday morning.

The woman, who did not want to be named, said: "The smoke stank, and it wasn't like the normal smell you get from a fire.

"I phoned the fire brigade and this man came out of the house and said there's no fire, it's steam from a bowl of water'.

"He didn't want me to phone the fire brigade.

"As soon as he saw the fire engine he did a runner. He pushed past me to get into his car."

She added that the man, who she believes could be Chinese, had not been living full-time at the house, and she had regularly heard a van turning up in the middle of the night at the property.

She said: "Something weird has been going on there for about eight months. The curtains were always drawn."