Whiff of weed on passer-by led police to commercial-scale house operation in Wakefield

The officers had been in Altofts when they saw Lejdi Kurdari leaving the property on Lawns View with a blue carrier bag, but recognised the unmistakeable stench of cannabis coming from him.

He was stopped and police went in to search the property, where they found Elsjan Boci. They also found that two of the bedrooms and the attic had been "turned over to the production of cannabis", Leeds Crown Court heard.

There was a sophisticated set up of lights, extractors and fans. In one room they found the remanence of cannabis plants, in the other they found harvested plants that had been stripped and set out for drying. In the the loft they found saplings. Like many such set-ups, the electricity had also been bypassed.

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They found photos on Kurdari's phone that showed large-scale cannabis grows dating back to November last year. The pair, who are both illegal Albanian immigrants, were arrested. They both admitted the production of cannabis plants and held on remand.

Mitigating for 33-year-old Kurdari, Christopher Morton said: "By way of explanation, he came her illegally in November 2021. He came by boat and incurred a significant debt for trafficking himself into the country.

"He worked in construction and a car wash and began to discharge the debt. He got a private tenancy in Altofts before he was approached by others to set up the cannabis grow. He wanted to get out of the drug process but felt he could not do so."

For 21-year-old Boci, Stephen Swan said he "naively" thought he could illegally come to the UK and get work in construction. Like his co-defendant, he was indebted to the trafficking gang and worked on the cannabis farm to pay it back.

The judge, Recorder Marco Giuliani told them: "It was a substantial commercial operation, and clearly an ongoing operation. Only immediate custody is appropriate." He jailed Kurdari for 32 months and Boci was 26 months.