Dunedin District Court

A Mosgiel man who was found to have an intricately concealed cannabis crop in a workshop he leased has been jailed for nearly two years.

Police raided Timothy Jacob Daniel Low’s premises on September 27 last year and discovered he had ‘‘gone to great lengths’’ to hide his illicit operation.

The grow room was only accessible by ladder and officers found lamps, shades, buckets, fans and electrical timers.

Sixteen plants had recently been harvested but the yield — worth nearly $10,000 — had gone.

The 26yearold defendant told police the classC drug was for his own personal use and there was no evidence of him selling.

Judge Michael Crosbie, who sentenced Low at the Dunedin District Court last week, was sceptical with the police’s analysis that it was not sophisticated offending.

‘‘You’d gone to some care,’’ the judge said.

Low pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis and a charge of aggravated assault which occurred six weeks earlier.

He had driven to his brother’s home to find police there.

Low yelled at officers, revved his engine and demanded they move their vehicle.

After failed attempts to calm the defendant, he drove at a senior constable, braking just short of the man.

Low challenged another officer to a fight and shoved him before a violent struggle ensued to arrest him.

The defendant was also convicted of aggravated driving while disqualified, unlawfully possessing ammunition and possessing methamphetamine.

Judge Crosbie jailed him for 22 months.