Cannabis 'gardener' earned £800 per week looking after Sunderland drugs farm

Police found the £118,000 drugs factory in Sunderland after receiving complaints about a smell of cannabis coming from the property in June.

Ensuild Baha was one of two men who ran away from the house when officers arrived to investigate.

Prosecutor Ellen Wright told Newcastle Crown Court the house contained 200 cannabis plants and the estimated value of the crop was between £27,300 and £118,500.

Baha, 26, of Alexander Court, Sunderland, admitted cultivating cannabis and has been jailed for two years.

The court heard Baha confessed he had been a "gardener" to the illegal plants for around four-and-a-half months - and was paid over £10,000 for his involvement.

Baha, an Albanian national who moved to Greece as a child and served in the Greek military before moving to the UK legally, said he "naively" got involved in the farm after he struggled to find permanent legitimate employment.

He said he was drafted into the illegal scheme by a group of Albanian men.

Mr Recorder Mark McKone told Baha: "You were paid £600 to £800 per week. It worked out you were paid over £10,000 for the four-and-a-half month period."

The judge said he accepted Baha did not set up the farm and did not own the drugs but rejected the suggestion he had been "naive" in his involvement.

He added: "Cannabis causes many users to have mental illness such as psychosis."

Joe Culley, defending, said Baha had worked in Greece and in the UK to provide for his family in Greece, after the death of his father.

Mr Culley said Baha had had legitimate work in construction and hospitality after his arrival in the UK and has no other convictions.