Man allowed house to be used as cannabis factory
A MAN allowed his house to be used as a cannabis factory to grow plants worth £38,000.
Police raided Marcus Shiroda’s Crosland Moor property and discovered a sophisticated production set-up in the basement.
The electricity supply had been bypassed and 70 plants worth an estimated street deal of £38,500 were being grown.
Shiroda claimed that his only involvement in the operation was renting out the room to three men who used the space to create the farm.
He pleaded guilty to permitting the production of a controlled drug and dishonestly abstracting electricity.
Prosecutor Vanessa Jones told Kirklees Magistrates’ Court that police executed a search warrant at the Manchester Road property on January 10.
She said that the officers found a cultivation set-up in the basement including 70 cannabis plants and 20 root balls belonging to plants that were cut earlier.
The cannabis seized weighed 3.85 kilograms and would have made street deals worth an estimated £38,500, Mrs Jones told the Huddersfield court.
A ventilation system and lighting were in place and Shiroda had bypassed the electricity himself to make a gain of more than £2,000.
However he had no involvement in the most serious offence other than allowing others to use the premises for the purpose of growing the drugs.
Mrs Jones said: “He didn’t have any financial gain other than allowing them to use the room he was renting out.
“It was quite a sophisticated setup and a large quantity of drugs but he had no active role in any of the supplying taking place.”
Mohammed Arif, mitigating, said that the 30-year-old had found himself in financial difficulties.
Mr Arif told magistrates: “He was on his own and given a three bedroom property by Kirklees Council to reside at.
“Then he found himself in the difficult position of paying rent so in the first instance he decided himself to bypass the electricity.”
Mr Arif explained that his client had already done that when he was approached by another man who suggested that he allowed him and some others to rent a room in the property to grow cannabis.
He said: “He had absolutely no involvement in the set-up at all. He didn’t purchase the plants, the pots, the lighting or the soil.
“He had no idea how it was all set up, however he allowed these three individuals to come into his property and set up the farm.
“He allowed them in at certain times and if he has gained any finances it is very limited.
“He’s played no active role in the set-up whatsoever but he’s guilty of allowing people to use that property to set up drugs in one of the rooms.”
Magistrates ordered a full probation report to include all sentencing options.
Chairman of the bench Richard Fearnley said: “These are serious matters. Allowing the premises to be used for a large-scale drugs operation is serious enough for custody to be considered.”
Shiroda, of Blackers Court in Thornhill Lees, Dewsbury, was granted unconditional bail until his sentencing hearing at the Huddersfield court on January 3.