Man is jailed

ACANNABIS “gardener” tried to climb out of a window as police officers forced their way into the £300,000 house where he was tending 250 plants.

Gentian Shkalla, from Albania, told officers he sneaked into the UK in a lorry and was offered £40 a day to look after the young plants in the large-scale set-up in the popular Radyr suburb of Cardiff.

Sentencing him at Cardiff Crown Court, Judge Jeremy Jenkins described it as a “substantial cannabis factory”.

The court heard police searched the property in De Clare Drive on Friday, April 27.

Suzanne Payne, prosecuting, said: “They had to force entry into the address. As they were doing so the defendant attempted to leave the property by climbing through the kitchen window.”

The court heard Shkalla was caught as he tried to escape through the window and detained by officers.

Prosecutors said the ground floor appeared to be a living area containing a kitchen and a sitting room.

Ms Payne added: “Officers found a large-scale cannabis factory with approximately 250 cannabis plants located on the first floor and in the attic.”

The court heard they also discovered a large quantity of dried cannabis at the address.

Shkalla was arrested and taken to Cardiff Bay Police Station, where he was interviewed. He told officers he arrived in the UK in a lorry about 18 months before he was arrested.

The defendant stated he began working as a labourer on a building