An empty shop on a busy town centre street was being used as a cannabis farm by an Albanian criminal gang, a court has heard. When officers searched the property in Neath they found hundreds of plants with a potential crop value of up to £160,000.
Swansea Crown Court two of the Albanian men found working in the drug farm had previously been brought into the UK in the backs of lorries - one paying Euro 10,000 to people smugglers to get him into the country via Germany and Belgium.
Dean Pulling, prosecuting, said on the morning of August 3 this year police went to a disused shop on Queen Street in Neath town centre following reports of a disturbance inside the premises. He said when officers arrived they heard shouting and banging coming from within, and when they entered the building via an unlocked rear door they were immediately struck by the "pungent" smell of cannabis in the air. Inside the property were three Albanian nationals - the defendants Esmirald Dedej, Alekaander Mucolli, and Martin Dervishllari.
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The court heard police searched the building and found a total of 371 cannabis plants at various stages of maturity along with fans and air filters, lights, bottles of plant food, tools, and already-harvested cannabis. Three rooms in the building were lined with plastic sheeting and had their windows blacked out and were being used as "grow rooms", while a fourth room was being used as living quarters. Mr Pulling said the potential value of the crop was estimated at up to £160,000.
The court heard Dervishllari was found with keys to a VW van which was parked nearby, and checks showed he had hired the vehicle. A number of SIM cards and mobiles were also seized from the shop but the defendants refused to reveal the access PINs for the phones. Get the latest crime and court stories sent straight to your email inbox
Esmirald Dedej, aged 24, of no fixed abode, Aleksander Mucolli, aged 31, of no fixed abode, and 29-year-old Martin Dervishllari, of Powell's Place, Newport, had all previously pleaded guilty to producing cannabis when they appeared in the dock for sentencing. None of them have any previous convictions.
Megan Williams, for Dedej, said her client had been working legally in construction in Croatia before moving to the UK in the hopes of finding similar work. Steven Burnell, for Mucolli, said the defendant had paid Euro 10,000 to be brought into the UK in a lorry via Germany and Belgium. He said his client had a wife and two young children at home in Albania and had been working in the the family business in his native country until it went into liquidation with significant debts. Andrew Evans, for Dervishllari, said his client had come to the UK legally to, among other reasons, earn money to pay off debts he owed in Albania.
Recorder Simon Mills said the three defendants had clearly been involved in a "commercial level" cannabis farm at the property. With one-quarter discounts for their guilty pleas Dervishllari was sentenced to 22 months in prison and Dedej to 18 months; with a one-third discount for his guilty plea - which was entered at an earlier stage in proceedings - Mucolli was sentenced to 16 months in prison. The defendants will each serve up to half their sentences in custody before before released on licence. The judge added: "I know not what your futures in the UK will be - that is a matter for Border Force and immigration authorities."
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