Seven men jailed after cops sniffed out £250k Scots cannabis factory with 1,000 plants

17.03.2022 - 13:55 / dailyrecord.co.uk

Seven men have been jailed for a total of 19 years after police sniffed out a cannabis factory.

A court heard that more than 1,000 plants with a wholesale value of £253,000 were seized from a warehouse in Uddingston, Lanarkshire.

Officers had become suspicious when they noticed a strong smell of cannabis as they drove past the building.

The seven men, all from Albania, were found in a bungalow next door to the warehouse.

Bledar Dafa, 43, Sebastian Gjorolumi, 22, and 31-year-old Zamir Cela were each jailed for three years at Hamilton Sheriff Court on Wednesday, March 16.

Elmi Vrapi, 31, Fjoralb Qosja, 27, and Amarildo Kodra, 26, were each sentenced to 32 months while Brandi Dafa, 21, was handed a two-year stretch.

All seven admitted producing cannabis in an operation aggravated by a connection to serious organised crime.

Sheriff John Speir said he accepted the accused had "non-management" roles as "gardeners", but stressed that they had been involved in a "serious criminal enterprise".

He pointed out that the street value of the cannabis would have been much higher than the wholesale figure given by the police.

The plants, along with some harvested material and growing equipment, were inside the two-storey building which had blacked-out windows.

The court heard that the seven men panicked and tried to escape when police arrived at the bungalow.

Four were found in the loft while two climbed on to the roof but were soon caught.

Lawyers for the accused said they had come to Scotland for legitimate work.

Diarmid Bruce, defending Quosja, said he had been "misled" about the nature of the job he'd been offered, but agreed to become involved in the cannabis cultivation as he was in a "desperate" financial situation.

Ian Brechany,