Drug grower tried to flee police raid via roof of house
BUT THERE’S NO ESCAPE FOR HIM AND CANNABIS HOUSE COLLEAGUE
A jobless hairdresser who turned to cannabis growing tried to smash his way out of an attic roof when the police arrived.
Ariull Uka, 28, lost his legitimate job in a hair salon during the pandemic and ended up tending illegal plants in Albert Promenade, Loughborough.
Leicester Crown Court was told when officers forced an entry on December 3, Uka and fellow gardener Pavlin Gjoni tried to hide in the loft of the end terrace property.
Adam Pearson, prosecuting, said: “Uka was seen to punch his way through the roof and started to exit through the roof but officers saw him and, under instruction, he climbed back in.
“Gjoni was also found in the loft space.”
The defendants had been tending 62 cannabis plants in four rooms, with a potential harvest of 3.5kg, which had an estimated street value of up to £43,000.
There was a follow-on crop of 50 to 60 plants, in earlier stages of growth, in the attic.
Uka and 28-year-old Gjoni were living there, sleeping on mattresses in another downstairs room.
Mr Pearson said: “It was a sophisticated set-up with high-intensity bulbs.
“The walls were painted white or covered in reflective material, the windows were blacked out and the electricity meter had been bypassed.
“An electrical board was installed with a number of transformers and a timing switch to mimic various lighting conditions during the seasons of the year to ensure efficient growing of crops.”
The 62 mature plants in the main part of the house were “just past the flowering stages and well cultivated”.
The prosecutor said: “The growers weren’t novices and had a degree of expertise and knowledge of technological equipment that was expensive, not easy to use and required great care.
“Various chemicals and growing aids were recovered. They weren’t trafficked here and were able to come and go as they pleased.”
Gjoni had £175 cash on him and Uka had £155 – which was confiscated.
An Albanian translator assisted both men in the court proceedings.
The defendants, both of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to cannabis production. Uka also admitted damaging the roof.
Sentencing, Judge Keith Raynor said: “I’m satisfied persons other than you paid for the equipment and the rent on the property.
“However, you were both performing important roles. Cannabis can’t be produced without people like you tending to the plants.
“The effect of this sentence may be that the Home Office decides to deport you to Albania. That’s not part of my sentence, that’s for the Home Office to consider.”
Sarah Cornish, for Uka, said: “He had a visa to stay in this country. His wife is an EU national, although she is not currently in the UK.
“He arrived three years ago and was working as a hairdresser in London but due to Covid found himself without work or accommodation and he accepted a job offer and came to Leicestershire to water the plants, arriving on November 22.
“There were no threats involved but he owed money – about £3,000 – to people in Albania, which he still needed to continue paying off.
“He damaged the roof by trying to get through a skylight.
“Tiles were thrown through the skylight but not directly at the police.”
Mark Knowles, for Gjoni, said that, like Uka, his client was acting under the direction of others and was at the bottom of the chain of command. He said Gjoni was there to work off a debt to the people who brought him into the country (illegally). The barrister said: “He felt he had little choice but he clearly knew what his role was. It was not a very large commercial operation.”
Both defendants were jailed for 18 months.