A "homeless" trusted "lieutenant" who oversaw a number of cannabis farms is on the run from justice.
Rebar Jalil, 34, was trusted to care for a number of cannabis plants at properties across Leeds. Jalil lived at a number of different addresses across the city but was caught out and arrested while wearing designer - or counterfeit - clothes.
On Friday at Leeds Crown Court he was jailed for five years but Recorder of Leeds Judge Guy Kearl KC did this in his absence as it was heard Jalil had absconded. The court heard details of a number of different farms found at locations linked to Jalil.
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The judge rejected his basis of pleas and claims, including that he was homeless and was taken to the addresses by another man but never entered or only entered some of the addresses a small number of times.
The judge told the court that Jalil had said in evidence that he had lived at Lawrence Road in Gipton but "he said there were no cannabis plants present". The judge said: "There was no explanation why he was sent there when it was a place for cannabis farming. It was found when he was arrested. I find he had been sent in order to utilise the production of cannabis."
It was said that Jalil's passport was found at a house in Carlton Garth, Woodhouse, alongside a dealer list. Jalil had previously told the court the list belonged to another man which the judge said "may be so" but a "picture" was "emerging that he was a trusted lieutenant".
The judge said in relation to a property in Savile Place in Chapeltown, Jalil had said he was going to pay a man £700 per month in rent - despite having "no income". The judge said: "The defendant accepts he helped a man transfer buckets of soil inside the house from a car. Why would he want to put soil in his house? When searched in August 2021, it was found to be a cannabis farm. When searched again in September 2021, it was again found to be a cannabis farm."
The court heard that in February last year, Jalil received a message from a known member of an organised crime group (OCG) with the Savile Place address provided. The house was visited and found to contain equipment used for a cannabis farm. Judge Kearl said: "It is clear no one would let him in there unless he was trusted and part of the production process."
Other addresses linked with Jalil included one in Autumn Place, Hyde Park, which he claimed to have only lived at for two weeks. This was an address he also gave to police when reporting that he had been a victim of an aggravated burglary.
Other properties included one in Harehills Lane, Wetherby Road - which he claimed to have agreed a rent of £750 per month but did not enter - Potternewton Lane in Meanwood, and one in Tong Way in Wortley, which he said he had agreed a rent of £500 per month. Cell site evidence put Jalil in the vicinity of this address on 12 occasions. It was found to be the location of a cannabis farm in January last year.
Jalil was arrested at a property in Airlie Place, Harehills, wearing, what the judge said was designer or counterfeit designer clothing. Cannabis was also found at this address and Jalil said in his basis of plea a friend had said he could stay there and help tend to cannabis plants but he refused to do so and had only been there three days, contrary to his guilty plea.
The judge said that "given the scale [of the operation] there is a potential for an annual income of £2.5m and it falls between a bracket commercial and industrial scale." The judge said Jalil's role was "significant" and "he knew the scale of the operation and had the expectation of a significant financial reward".
Michael Collins, mitigating, said there was "no direct evidence" of Jalil's own criminality "save to that nature which he's accepted." He said Jalil is a foreign national and said: "If the only people who are assisting him are fellow country men who are themselves involved in criminality, that is not a reflection of his own conduct." He said: "He is not in a position to refuse offers of help and that means he has accommodation in premises where cannabis is being grown and that is not his responsibility."
The court heard Jalil had no previous convictions. The Recorder of Leeds jailed him for five years in his absence for two counts of production of cannabis and one of being concerned in the production of cannabis. The judge said: "His account he was a homeless man aken to houses to rent when he had no income is nonsensical."
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