Two illegal immigrants from Albania have been jailed for 10 months after police uncovered a cannabis farm with up to £45,000 worth of plants in a Sunderland home where they were living in squalor. Ervis Allaraj, 22, and Ronaldo Zejneli, 28, were found tending 153 cannabis plants spread across six rooms at a property on Windsor Terrace.
Police raid and discovery
Matthew Hopkins, prosecuting at Newcastle Crown Court, said officers executed a search warrant on May 20 this year. Both defendants were located on the first floor of the property. Officers found cannabis and cannabis equipment in several rooms, totalling 153 plants across six rooms. Two smartphones were also seized.
A drugs expert estimated the plants would have produced between 4.2kg and 12.8kg of cannabis, with a street value between £10,000 and £45,000.
Defendants' backgrounds
Both men had entered the UK illegally and had no right to be living in the country. They claimed they had been living at the cannabis farm for seven to 10 days before the raid and were looking after the plants for cash, not knowing who the drugs belonged to.
Allaraj, of no fixed abode, and Zejneli, of Swinton Hall Road, Manchester, both pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis. Jason Smith, defending Zejneli, said he had no legal right to be in the UK and would volunteer to be deported to Albania. Smith added: "He was approached and taken to this house where his job was to do general maintenance. He had no direct involvement with the plants but accepts his part of the process." Smith noted Zejneli was "clearly exploited as a consequence of his position on being in the UK being illegal".
Emilia Boyle, defending Allaraj, said he too was in the country illegally and would volunteer for deportation. She stated: "At the time, he was unemployed and describes himself as being absolutely desperate. He, unfortunately, fell into something, which clearly has much bigger infrastructure above him."
Sentencing remarks
Jailing the pair, Recorder Simon Eckersley said: "Cannabis is not a soft drug or, somehow, less serious than others. Those who regularly appear before the criminal courts know the issues that cannabis causes - financial, physical and mental health issues - for users, impacting on their family and friends. The cultivation of cannabis fuels those issues and houses such as that in which you were employed create their own problems."
The men were sentenced to 10 months in prison and will face deportation after serving their sentences.
