By Man lured to look after £63,000 cannabis farm in Grimsby faces deportation
An illegal Albanian immigrant working in London was recruited to look after a £63,000 cannabis factory on Grimsby’s East Marsh.
Bledar Porja, 28, had been working at a London car wash when he was recruited to look after 144 cannabis plants in Grafton Street.
Porja, who arrived in the UK illegally in 2019, admitted being involved in the production of cannabis when he appeared at Grimsby Crown Court.
The court heard how the defendant had worked on the plants for over two months between December last year and February this year.
He was offered £400 per month on living expenses to be the “gardener” and was expecting to be paid once the cannabis was harvested but police invaded before this could happen.
A raid was carried out at 4 pm on Saturday, February 26 when police saw Porja flee along an alleyway and into a garden. A quantity of cash and a mobile phone were found in his possession.
The electricity meter to the terraced house had been bypassed and an elaborate cannabis factory with 35 transformers and a lighting system had been set up to grow the plants.
They were between 50cm and 100cm tall with a street value of £63,000 if they had grown to maturity and harvested.
The defense said Porja had entered the UK illegally in 2019 and was not able to legitimately work in the country.
He was working cash-in-hand and sofa surfing at friends’ homes and had been approached by Albanian nationals to look after the cannabis factory in Grimsby.
Judge Michael Fanning told the defendant: “You came here to get a better life, but, of course, coming here meant you could not work legitimately, and having paid a significant sum to traffickers it is not easy to leave. So I can see how enticing being offered this kind of drug work was.
“You made the decision to pay to come to this country. You have not been pressured or intimidated to do this. I can see how you could be exploited, to a degree, by others. You have little influence over those above you in this chain. Your job was very specific for two months.”
The judge said Porja had a significant role in the professionally-built cannabis factory which was designed to produce significant quantities of cannabis. He jailed him for two years and two months.
The judge said: “You are almost certain to be deported, but that is not a matter for me.”
He ordered that the cash found on the defendant when he was arrested and estimated to be a few hundred pounds, should be given to a local charity.
