Leeds house cannabis farmer claimed drugs gang threatened to murder his mother and sister

The Home Office refuted Dorjan Mera’s claim after he has been arrested at the property on Buckton View in Holbeck on February 9. Officers forced entry to find the 22-year-old asleep on a bed in the kitchen.

They found the rest of the house “had been turned over to the production of cannabis”, prosecutor Bashir Ahmed told Leeds Crown Court. In total, they found 126 plants with the usual set up, including lights and transformers.

He said it had a potential yield of 7kg of cannabis, with a street value of of £70,000. During his police interview, Mera said he’d been forced to come to the UK and work on the drugs operation by a gang, or they would kill his mother and sister.

It was later accepted that he was “pressured” to work on the farm to pay off the debt he owed to traffickers for his transportation, but was not forced to travel to the UK.

He had arrived in a truck last summer, his mitigating barrister Benjamin Campbell said. He added: “He regrets this series of events and wants nothing more than to go home to his family in Albania and work there in a lawful capacity.

"He was put under pressure to look after the cannabis. He must have expected some sort of pressure to repay the £25,000 fee.”

He admitted producing cannabis. Jailing him for 18 months, Recorder Mark McKone KC said had not been forced into travelling, and had come for “economic reasons”.