Now Lithuanian food shop Krautuvele in Pinchbeck Road faces a fight to keep its licence to sell alcohol because of the criminal activity.
Lincolnshire Police has requested the licensing authority, South Holland District Council, reviews the premises licence.
Sgt Kim Enderby, of the force’s alcohol licensing team, said: “The fire brigade was called to a fire in the basement of the premises. The cause of the fire was the hydroponics equipment.
“About 70 to 75 mature plants were found. It was quite an industrial-scale operation.
“The licence holder claims she knew nothing about it but we are saying that can’t be right as the only access to the basement is through the shop.”
Police say the designated premises supervisor is Karolina Kiminiene, whose husband Vytautas Kiminius is understood to be the leaseholder for an adjoining beauty clinic. Papers issued by the district council state the designated premises supervisor is Karolina Malakauskaite.
When police officers attended the fire on November 30 last year, they discovered that there was no CCTV in operation, which is non-compliance with the conditions of the licence.
Police are also due to submit evidence of the shop selling foreign-labelled medicines.
A meeting of the panel of the committee of the licensing authority was due to be held on Wednesday (April 26), but was adjourned to Thursday, May 18 due to a long-standing prior commitment for Mrs Kiminiene.
