A painter and decorator who was transported to Wales was found by police at a cannabis factory with more than 2,000 plants with a potential value of £1m. Also found were various items used to grow cannabis including filters, lights and fans.
Viktor Nazeraj, 43, was arrested by police after trying to flee from a unit at an industrial estate in Cardiff on May 27 when officers from South Wales Police's organised crime group carried out a raid. They had received information that cannabis was being grown at the unit in Clydesmuir Road industrial estate in Tremorfa.
Upon arriving at the factory, they could smell cannabis and heard movement from inside which was the defendant. Upon being arrested, Nazeraj said he could not speak English and an iPhone and Samsung mobile phone was seized.
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A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Monday heard the unit had been partitioned to create separate rooms which had been prepared for the cultivation of cannabis. A total of 2,400 cannabis plants were discovered with a potential yield weighing 201kg and worth a potential street value between £268,000 and £1,045,200.
Prosecutor Jason Howells said the factory showed signs of a "professional organisation" prepared for an "industrial sized operation" for significant financial gain. Among the equipment found at the factory were 30 air filters, 44 fans, and 211 lights.
Nazeraj, of no fixed abode, later pleaded guilty to production of a class B controlled drug, on the basis he was working as a gardener and had no financial gain. The court heard he had arrived in the UK from Albania on May 25 after being told work was available as a painter and decorator but was taken to the factory in order to pay off his debt for his transport.
Defence barrister Huw Bowden said his client was taken to a hotel the night of his arrival in the UK before being taken to the industrial unit where he was asked to paint and decorate the unit. Mr Bowden said Nazeraj realised cannabis plants were being grown there but had no direct involvement with production. He said the defendant felt "under pressure" to remain at the premises but intended to leave after finishing his job.
Sentencing, Recorder Simon Hughes said: "It would have become plain to you the nature of what you were involved in but you continued to engage in that work none the less." Nazeraj was sentenced to six months imprisonment.
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