‘Stowaway’ immigrant who ‘pursued his dream’ found to be tending to Leeds drug farms

Ardjan Bashkurti’s finger prints were found at the properties where hundreds of plants were growing and he was eventually arrested. The 28-year-old was jailed for two years at Leeds Crown Court this week after admitting three counts of producing cannabis.

Prosecuting, Felicity Hamlin said police first raided a property on Nowell Place in Harehills on May 19, 2021 where they found rooms turned over the growing of cannabis plants. A total of 227 plants were recovered, as was a finger print. On September 23, 2022, Northern Power were called out to investigate an energy supply that had been bypassed at Noster Place in Cross Flatts. After police arrived, they found 112 plants and again, the same finger print on a socket board.

Finally, on January 10 of this year, police raided the same Noster Place property where there were 60 more plants found, along with the usual growing equipment. They were able to arrest Bashkurti and ascertained the finger prints belonged to him.

Interviewed about all three operations, he said he was forced to work by those who helped bring him to the UK from Albania as a stowaway in March 2021. He has no previous convictions in the UK.

Mitigating, Shufqat Khan said: “He was pursuing his dream at the time to assist his family economically, but that dream turned into a nightmare. He was performing a very limited function and was pressured. There’s an element of exploitation. He had no influence over those above him in the chain.”

Mr Khan said he could find no way of working legally so “found himself in dire straits”.

But Judge Ray Singh told Bashkurti had to take responsibility and said: “It would have been patently obvious you were not allowed in this country through safe legal routes. You would not have been entitled to work legitimately and you would have to repay the smugglers by working illegally.

"There was a level of exploitation and vulnerability but I must balance that you have placed yourself in that position.”