‘Mafia’ gang are jailed over £6m cannabis farms
ADEEPLISH man was among 26 people jailed after police smashed a £6m network of cannabis farms controlled by the ‘Albanian mafia’.
Police launched Operation Tisdale in March 2016 to dismantle a large organised crime group who conspired to grow, package and sell the drug on a huge scale nationwide.
Among them was Ismail Agaci, 22, of Leicester Street, was jailed for one year and three months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class B drugs and the cultivation of cannabis:
People were employed in the conspiracy as farmers, managers, quartermasters and directors to sustain the operation.
The operation was controlled by organised criminals from Albania – whose ‘mafia’ gangs have become signficant players in the UK drugs trade in recent years.
Our sister paper the M.E.N. has reported how money garnered from the cannabis conspiracy was funnelled through the bank accounts of Crumpsall-based Besnik Hoxha, 34, whose wife, Ifigjenia Cipi, 33, enjoyed spending sprees at House of Fraser, nail bars and beauty salons.
On July 21, 2016, offic- ers from GMP’s Serious and Organised Crime Group carried out 12 raids across the Greater Manchester and Cheshire areas in a joint operation with the immigration service, North West Electricity and local authorities.
Officers discovered cannabis farms with a total worth of £6m in Crumpsall, Moss Side, Wythenshawe, Stretford, Salford, Droylsden, Rochdale and Wilmslow, Cheshire.
Other farms were discovered in Rotherham and Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
Twenty-six people were arrested, charged and convicted of offences including conspiracy to supply class B drugs, money laundering and false documentation.
Now the final two – Elton Omuri, 26, of Chippenham Road, Manchester, and Toni Boboshi, 44, of Pyramid Court, Manchester – have been sentenced at Manchester Crown Court for conspiracy to supply class B drugs after pleading not guilty at an earlier hearing.
Omuri was sentenced to four years imprisonment and Boboshi was sentenced to six years imprisonment.