Jail for cannabis farmer who wasn't paid for tending £144,000 grow in Mansfield

Police found 20-year-old Shehu Sulejman when they executed a search warrant at a three-bedroom detached house, on Brick Kiln Lane, on April 5, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

Katrina Wilson, prosecuting, said officers were unable to trace the house’s owner but learned from neighbours it was bought in late 2022, or early 2023.

In total, 172 plants of varying maturity were found in a “professional set up” along with a small amount of cropped cannabis bud.

The court heard CCTV was installed at the front and back of the house, the electricity was bypassed, windows were covered with plastic sheets and the walls were partially lined with reflectors.

Shehu was living in a small bedroom, with every other room converted to grow cannabis.

Officers also found transformers, temperature controls, fans, suspended lights, plant feed and a water supply connected from the bathroom.

If they had all reached maturity the plants could have yielded as much as 14.4 kilograms, with a maximum street value of £144,000, or £108,000 if sold wholesale.

Ms Wilson said: “He came to UK from Albania in March 2022 and lived with his cousin before moving to the address. He is certainly liable to deportation.

“When he arrived the grow was already set up. He accepted he watered and looked after the plants for a couple of weeks. He wasn’t paid.

“He said he was threatened initially not to leave the address but had the opportunity to do so.”

This is his first conviction in the UK, she said, but no information about a criminal record in his homeland has been found.

Shehu admitted cannabis production.

Bianca Brasoveanu, mitigating, said: “This case is about yet another young man who leaves his own country in desperate circumstances. He faced financial difficulties and was hoping to find work elsewhere.”

However, Judge Julie Warburton said: “He had somewhere to live legitimately and chose to go to this address for no reason I can comprehend. I am going to sentence him on the basis of his plea.”