Cannabis farm worth over £300,000 found growing at former city centre snooker hall

Leeds Crown Court heard the plants were capable of producing around £322,000 worth of the class B drug.

West Yorkshire Police officers made the discovery when they went to the former Rex Snooker Club, on Stanley Road, Wakefield, on July 30 last year.

Michael Greenhalgh, prosecuting, said the officers found that the premises had been converted into a cannabis farm with 1,284 plants growing in five rooms.

The building had been equipped with "sophisticated" heating, lighting and growing equipment.

A smaller room on the upper floor contained three beds and a kitchen area where Shemsi Shahini, Doraldo Shahu and Arselon Cenaj were living.

The electricity supply to the building had also been bypassed.

Mr Greenhalgh said the police found all three defendants hiding in a loft in the building.

They were linked to the offending through fingerprint and DNA evidence.

The prosecutor said the plants were analysed by experts who estimated they were capable of producing 32kgs of cannabis.

All three defendants, all Albanian nationals of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to producing cannabis.

When interviewed about the offending they told officers they had been forced to look after the plants by criminals who had arranged their illegal entry into the UK.

Lawyers for the men described how they had come to the UK in the hope of a better life but had agreed to tend the plants out of desperation in order to clear debts they owed for being brought into the country.

Shahini, 37, was jailed for 18 months. Cenaj, 29, and Shahu, 30, were both jailed for 20 months.