Drug gardener paid £50 per week to tend £176k cannabis farm in Mansfield

Police officers were alerted by a humming noise from an address on Westfield Lane, in the early hours of June 15, last year, and used a drone to spot “excessive heat” coming from the property.

When the door was not answered it was forced open and officers found Arber Caushaj with 210 cannabis plants growing on all three floors, prosecutor Timothy Achurch told Nottingham Crown Court.

The operation had a potential yield of 5.8 kilograms to 17.6kg, valued between £33,000, if sold wholesale, and £176,000, if sold on the street.

The electricity had been bypassed and Caushaj later admitting living there for a year and his job was to water and fertilise the plants.

The court heard that when he arrived in the UK from Albania at Manchester Airport he was met by a “somewhat threatening and forceful” individual.

He was paid £200 per month to be a gardener and told he could come and go as he pleased.

Caushaj, aged 37, admitted cannabis production

James Armstrong-Holmes, mitigating, said Caushaj, of previous good character, has already served 15 months in prison, because he was deemed a flight risk, even though the starting point for the offence is only 12 months.

Mr Armstrong-Holmes said: “He was originally told he was going to work at a car wash but it wasn't yet built and he would have to work at the house until it was.”

Jailing him for 10 months, Judge Steven Coupland told Caushaj: “You came to this country for a better life, sadly you didn't find it.

“You were involved by others in an operation to grow significant quantities of cannabis.

“I accept this wasn't your idea or your operation. You were employed by others and were never going to see the profits, but the drugs would end up on the streets of Nottingham and would have made a lot of money for the serious criminals employing you. Only a prison sentence can follow.

However, the judge added: “Unless the immigration authorities decide to keep you in custody, you will be entitled to be released today.”