Notts trio jailed for key roles in £500,000 cannabis plot

DRUGS GROWN BY ALBANIAN ‘GARDENERS’ WERE THEN SOLD ACROSS THE MIDLANDS

THREE Nottinghamshire men have been jailed for their roles in a countrywide cannabis operation worth over £500,000.

Egi Tafa, 24, of Calderdale, in Wollaton, led a gang which was running the cannabis-growing operation across Nottingham, Mansfield, Doncaster, King’s Lynn, Birmingham and Sandiacre and later raided by police.

His right-hand man Mevlan Koci, 29, also of Calderdale, joined him in teaming up with Derby-based drug dealer Stephen Perry to produce hundreds of thousands of pounds-worth of cannabis.

The drugs were grown by a team of Albanian gardeners who tended to the drugs in properties across the UK.

They were then supplied to Callum Clarke, 31, of Linnet Drive, Rainworth, along with Brett Simpson, of Chaddesden in Derby, who sold to users across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire.

The five men involved were handed the following sentences at Derby Crown Court on Tuesday:

■ Tafa was sentenced to five years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis.

■ Koci was sentenced to two years and seven months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis.

■ Clarke was sentenced to 10 years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis, importation of cocaine and possession of a section 1 firearm.

■ Perry, 29, of Smalley Drive, Derby was sentenced to three years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis.

■ Simpson, 29, of Meadow Lane, Chaddesden, was sentenced to two years and one month after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis The following men were all jailed for their part as growers of the cannabis at around the country at previous hearings:

■ Mirand Koci, 31, of no fixed address, was sentenced to 20 months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis.

■ Drilon Losha, 24, of no fixed address, was sentenced to four months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis.

■ Olsian Hysi, 27, of no fixed address, was sentenced to four months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis.

■ Egli Dobra, 25, of no fixed address, was sentenced to four months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis.

10 YEARS: Callum Clarke was the gang’s Rainworth-based drug dealer

5 YEARS: Egi Tafa, of Wollaton, ran the cannabis-growing operation

2 YEARS 7 MONTHS: Mevlan Koci helped to produce the cannabis

3 YEARS: Stephen Perry was the gang’s Derby connection