Police who arrested a Bradford man for running two cannabis farms in the city were led to a sophisticated £100,000 drugs factory in an industrial unit in Leeds, a jury was told.

James Reed, who was caught at his adjoining houses in Westgate Hill Street, Tong, had accepted his involvement in the production of cannabis at all three properties, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

But two men found hiding in the locked industrial unit at Treefield Industrial Estate in Gelderd Road in Leeds deny the offence and plead not guilty to abstracting electricity.

Martin Dawson, 40, of Craven Lane, Gomersal, and Simon Bennett, 42, of St Ives Grove, Armley, Leeds, say they were repairing a toilet at the unit when police from the Bradford Quartz Team raided it on January 25 last year.

Prosecutor Bashir Ahmed told the jury the men were concealed in a cupboard when police kicked down the door to the building at 1.15pm.

Officers found 293 cannabis plants being cultivated in a hidden room at the unit, located by climbing ladders and going through a trapdoor.

Mr Ahmed said the factory yield had a potential street value of more than £100,000. The unit had been rented by Reed since March, 2011, but Mr Ahmed alleged he was not running the operation on his own.

Bennett told the police he was a self-employed plumber and gas engineer called to the premises to fix a leaking toilet.

He said he panicked when he saw five men he thought were travellers running into the building.

Dawson said he was labouring for Bennett that day and they were installing a toilet.

He too said he hid in the cupboard because he thought travellers were trying to break in.

Both defendants said they knew nothing about a cannabis factory at the unit.

Mr Ahmed told the jury both men knew Reed and were assisting him with the Leeds drugs factory.

The trial continues.