Illegal immigrants fled onto roof of £500k cannabis grow
TWO illegal immigrants were caught tending a huge cannabis grow which could have netted their bosses as much as half a million pounds.
Nottingham Crown Court heard how Ervis Llani and Xhiljan Stafaj both attempted to climb onto the roof in a bid to escape from the Daybrook warehouse when police raided it on February 27.
The two Albanians were caught and arrested, with Llani saying he had arrived weeks earlier on a boat from France agreeing to tend to the huge crop to pay off a £10,000 debt his father had accrued.
Jailing each of them for 14 months, Recorder Paul Mann KC said: “You say you are keen to go back to Albania? It’s a sentiment I am sure we all share. You were here illegally and you got yourself involved in the unlawful production of cannabis. You must have known when you arrived at this industrial unit the scale of the operation you would be assisting in.
“But there is nothing to suggest you were doing anything other than what is often referred to as ‘the gardening work’ or that you had been there long. It is not as if either of you were likely to be gaining that much financially from this.
“There are too many people such as yourselves who come here to commit an offence of this kind and because of that others need to understand they need to be deterred from such behaviour.”
Luc Chignell, prosecuting, said police executed a warrant at the warehouse in Edwin Street after receiving information the class B drug was being cultivated there. He said when they arrived 600 plants were being grown in four separate areas. The prosecutor said: “Depending on how it was sold the police expert’s conclusion was that it could have made as much as half a million pounds.
“The two defendants were found trying to leave the premises by climbing on the roof when the police arrived. They were detained and arrested.”
Llani, 20, and Stafaj, 27, both of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to production of cannabis and have no previous convictions in the UK.
Roger Wilson, for Llani said his client’s father had racked up the £10,000 debt and his son had agreed to come to the UK illegally to help pay that off. He said “He has been here for a few months now and has found it extremely difficult and wants to go back home.” Denney Lau, mitigating for Stafaj, said his client too wants to return to Albania.
The judge told the defendants they are likely to be deported once they serve their jail terms.