Mansfield drug farmer jailed for major role in £146,000 cannabis operation

Oetjon Agalliu ran out of the back door when police came through the front of a property on Bentinck Street, on December 15, 2021, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

Jon Fountain, prosecuting, said he was detained and officers found three bedrooms and the attic had been converted to grow 174 cannabis plants, with ducting fans and specialist lighting fed from a diverted electricity supply.

Mr Fountain said: “This was plainly a commercial grow capable of producing as much as £146,000 of cannabis.”

Agalliu told police he had come to the UK to work and claimed he did not initially know what the job entailed and received no payment.

However, the court heard phones messages showed 30-year-old Agalliu’s “involvement was much more significant”.

One discussion revealed him arranging to supply a kilo of cannabis and “it was clear he was expecting significant financial gain”.

Agalliu also offered to pay up to £25,000 for asylum documents and offered drink and cocaine as payment to sex workers.

Mr Fountain said: “This was not a man who was leading a constrained and difficult life.”

He continued to downplay his involvement before admitting a “significant role” in March, when he admitted producing cannabis between October 20, 2021, and December 15, 2021.

Colin McCarraher, mitigating, said Agalliu, of previous good character, deserved 20 per cent credit for his eventual guilty plea.

He said: “He is sorry for what he has done. His father is refusing to talk to him. His mother is very worried about him.”

Mr McCarraher said, having previously worked as a waiter and on building sites, Agalliu “doesn’t fit the mould of an experienced criminal running a drugs operation”.

“He came here illegally in a truck and that cost him a lot of money,” he added. “He borrowed the money in Albania and they will come looking for him. He has been in prison for 17 months.”

Jailing him for three years, Judge Stuart Rafferty KC told Agalliu: “You were living comfortably and clearly wanted to make as much money as you could to pay back the people who had arranged for you to come to the UK and to support the lifestyle you were leading.”