'Moving' window blinds led police to raid cannabis farm at Leeds terraced home
A £92,000 cannabis house was raided by police after an officer noticed the property’s closed window blinds were “moving constantly”.
The officer suspected the movement was caused by fans, often used in the production of the drug, so a warrant was executed to search the property on Ashton Avenue in Harehills.
They tried to smash the door in, but it had been reinforced, so they used an adjacent property to gain access where they found five rooms full of plants.
The electricity had been bypassed and while they were making the area secure, occupant Ronaldo Tafa arrived home and was subsequently arrested.
His finger prints were found on the fans used to help grow the crop, prosecutor Chloe Hudson told Leeds Crown Court.
The 20-year-old Albanian, who has no previous convictions, admitted production of cannabis via video link from HMP Doncaster where he was being held on remand.
Mitigating, Robin Frieze said that Tafa had left his home country a year ago and had lived in France before being illegally shipped to England.
He said his family had raised money to pay traffickers, he was taken to the house in Leeds and showed how to tend to the cannabis crop.
He said he had not received any payment, but was expecting some money “at some stage”.
Judge Robin Mairs jailed him for 26 months and said: “You were not there under compulsion, and there’s no suggestion of modern slavery.
"You were working there quite simply to make money.”
It is thought that Tafa will be deported once he is freed from prison.