An illegal immigrant was offering to pay sex workers with drugs and growing a valuable crop of cannabis after coming to the UK in a truck. Farmer's son Oetjon Agalliu had not rested on his laurels after arriving here illegally - which cost him a lot of cash.
Despite keeping out of trouble in his home country of Albania, Agalliu was found in a house in Bentinck Street, Mansfield, with 174 cannabis plants. The set up included fans, specialised lighting, fed from a diverted electricity supply.
The commercial grow of plants - found on December 14, 2021 - was estimated to be worth £146,000.
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The police investigation led to the interrogation of mobile phones. The defendant had plainly been living in the property but his involvement was "much more significant," said Jon Fountain, prosecuting at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday (April 11).
He had chatted with another on one of the phones he could supply cannabis in bulk amounts - ranging up to a kilo. "It is plain the defendant was expecting a very significant personal gain from this enterprise," said Mr Fountain.
In another conversation, the defendant had inquired whether somebody he was in contact with could arrange documents for asylum for another, offering to pay up to £25,000. He was even offering to pay sex workers to visit his home and offered drink and cocaine in payment.
In police interview, the former Albanian waiter said he came here to find work and was given a job in a house in Mansfield. He did not know what the job was initially - but was directed to water the plants - and was not paid.
But Mr Fountain said his role was significant after 35-year-old Agalliu pleaded guilty to producing cannabis. Mitigating, Colin McCarraher said Agalliu was from a simple country background. His father is a small holdings farmer who is 65, and his mother is clinically depressed after she was shot three times when Agalliu was young.
Mr McCarraher said Agalliu did not fit the mould of an "experienced criminal running the whole outfit. He came here illegally in a truck. It cost him a lot of money to do so and he has to pay that money back some how.
"That probably is bigger to him than a British prison sentence, as he borrowed money in Albania, and they will come looking for him" said Mr McCarraher. Agalliu was jailed for three years and will be deported at the end of his sentence.
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