Three men who transformed a large commercial site in Ramsgate into a cannabis farm have been jailed.
On June 1, Kent Police carried out a warrant at the disused property in School Lane, where it was found that the address had been fully converted into a dedicated cannabis cultivation site. As police entered the building, three men were found trying to escape through the back door but were stopped by officers.
Shkelzen Vata, Fabio Maloku and Zylfi Hata, all of no fixed address, were all arrested and taken into custody.
An examination of the building, originally used as three floors of offices, a basement and a loft, found that it had entirely been converted for the purpose of growing and preparing cannabis, other than four rooms which were instead used as makeshift living quarters.
In excess of 1,000 plants were found in different stages of growth, from young growing plants, to mature plants which had been cut to dry out. Rooms were filled with fans, heaters, lights and other equipment needed for the cultivation. A total of 291 lamps were found at the property which were being powered by an electricity supply which had been tampered with and bypassed.
Following an investigation by the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, the three offenders were charged with being concerned in the production of cannabis.
Detectives found the plants would have been capable of producing cannabis to the value of between £105,000 to £540,000.
At Canterbury Crown Court the three men admitted the charges and they were sentenced yesterday (September 7).
The claims by 35-year-old Hata and 22-year-old Maloku that they were recruited under pressure or had been threatened by masked men to make them work on the cultivation were not accepted by the judge and they were jailed for two years and one month each.
Vata, 21, who had admitted responsibility at the earliest opportunity, received a 22-month custodial sentence.
Investigating officer DC Mark Simcox said: “A cultivation site such as the one found in Ramsgate would have produced a lot of Class B drugs, which would be used to fuel further criminality.
“By working to find and dismantle such cultivations, we disrupt organised crime, leave them out of pocket and send a clear message that anyone found working at cultivations risks going to prison.”
Well at least they all have a fixed address now. Plenty of time to get some travel documents to send them home with a message which is don’t come here for criminal activities.
It’s about time they legalised cannabis. That would solve half of today’s crimes overnight.
Better still, it’s about time people stopped taking drugs.
DEPORT
No thanks, there are too many wasters as it is.
More criminal illegal migrants,that the vanilla progressives “do gooders”claim are asylum seekers,in fear of their lives.
Let’s just hope They get deported as soon as they have served their sentences, although no doubt there will be left wing human rights lawyers arguing for them to remain in the uk.
If they were illegal immigrants, then the sentence would have included a deportation order, once jail time was complete.
Must be some of those immigrants we need in our economy, you know it’s bad when even the UKs drug dealers can’t be bothered to get out of bed.
“Left-wing human rights”
When you find yourself on the opposite side of human rights, you should probably question yourself.
Rights developed, you know, because of the actions of Nazis.
Terrible news Kathy how it slip past TDC planning.. Probably agreed as they thought it plant shop
TDC should have been charging them business rates for the factory use and council tax for the living quarters.
There used to be regular inspections of premises supposedly empty but I doubt anybody bothers now. Yet another income stream lost.
Some great comments 🙂
Nice locals … must be born and bred Cliftonville!!
No photo of the fuse board, that’s the best bit, don’t drug dealers do hydroponics in Thanet, this seems terribly old fashioned.
They probably got rid of it as it was surplus to their requirements.
It is obvious that due to the limited profits of cannabis cultivation, this activity is now left to non specialised foreign labour.
British drug dealers do not bother with cannabis because it is not worth the risks and the amount of work that it requires. British drug dealers now specialise in the import of class A products in full cooperation with all foreign organisations.
Immigration, immigrants, legal or illegal are just labour. The top traffickers are still British.
Totally loony, woke lefites trying to stop enterprising young men from earning a living. No doubt they would much rather they were languishing & living the high life on the 90 quid a week dole goldmine, that Labour & Lib Dems insist on them having.