A MAN caught in charge of a big cannabis farm in Shipley has been jailed for 14 months.

Pajton Pergjergji, 28, an Albanian national, was arrested at the house in Cross Banks on November 10 by police officers executing a search warrant under The Misuse of Drugs Act.

Prosecutor Nicola Hoskins told Bradford Crown Court today they used a battering ram to smash their way into the property and saw the defendant in the hall. He made a dash for the stairs and officers followed and detained him.

The house was searched and five grow rooms discovered. It was a sophisticated cannabis farm with 138 plants at various stages of growth.

There were clothes at the address and there was food in the fridge. The keys in the outer doors suggested that Pergjergji was free to come and go as he pleased.

Miss Hoskins said he had a significant role in the cannabis operation. It was a sophisticated set-up designed to produce ongoing crops of the drug.

Pergjergji pleaded guilty to production of cannabis at his first appearance before the magistrates’ court.

In mitigation, Leila Taleb conceded that he knew the scale of the operation but his hand had been forced. The farm was in place when he moved in and he had only recently arrived in the country.

He paid £20,000 to people in Belgium to bring him to the United Kingdom and was told to work at the cannabis farm to pay off the debt.

His father had died this year and Pergjergji was the breadwinner. He hoped to earn money to give his family a better life.

He was a man of previous good character and there was no evidence that he would have received any financial gain for caring for the plants.

Deputy Circuit Judge Timothy Clayson said the rooms were set up with the necessary equipment to ensure that the cannabis growing operation continued over time.

Pergjergji was a family man who had come here with the misguided idea that he could make money for his family.

Aggravating features were the scale of the cannabis growing operation and the fact that he was aware of it.

Judge Clayson made an order for forfeiture and destruction of the drugs and associated paraphernalia.

At the time the drugs farm was busted, the police said the raid was aided by Shipley Town Council’s thermal camera that was proving its worth in such operations.

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