Police found £350,000 worth of cannabis when they raided a converted industrial unit
Two illegal immigrants from Albania have been jailed for their part in producing cannabis on an industrial scale from a Nuneaton warehouse.
Flamor Xhaja (38) and Kristjam Sokeli (27) both of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to producing cannabis at a unit on the Whitacre Road Industrial Estate that had been converted into a cannabis factory.
Sokeli was jailed for 12 months and Xhaja, who had entered his plea at an earlier stage, was sentenced to 10 months following a hearing at Warwick Crown Court.
Prosecutor Adrian Fleming said that on June 30 police attended the industrial unit with a search warrant and found it was being used to grow cannabis.
Five separate rooms had been fitted with lighting and ventilation systems. A total of 623 cannabis plants were being grown, 329 of which were described as being mature.
It was estimated that once all the plants had reached maturity they could have yielded around 35 kilos of cannabis with a potential street value of just over £350,000.
In a corner of one room was a makeshift bedroom where the officers found Sokeli, while Xhaja was in the growing area.
Jailing the two men, Recorder William Edis QC told them: “You both came to this country from Albania illegally a number of years ago, and you both fell on hard times and needed money.
“You chose to join, admittedly at a low level, a sophisticated and large-scale operation producing cannabis.
“That property had been converted for one use, and one use alone, and that was producing cannabis for sale to the public. This was a commercial-scale operation.
“You became involved in different ways, but essentially for the same reason, and that was to make money.
“The one distinction I draw between you is the timing of your guilty pleas.”
Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 5:32 pm