Police found more than 900 cannabis plants after they raided two neighbouring properties in a Hull street.
Two of the three “gardeners” responsible for the crops had entered the UK illegally from Albania and were likely to be deported after their prison sentence, a court heard.
Jasper Ooijen, 51, and accomplices Kujtim Ndreca, 37, and Besjan Legisi, 30, all admitted being involved in the production of cannabis at two nearby addresses in Dorset Street, Hull.
Ben Hammersley, prosecuting, told Grimsby Crown Court that, during police raids on July 19, officers found 393 plants at one property and 521 pots at another property five doors away. At both addresses, the electricity had been bypassed and abstracted illegally.
Police found Ooijen and Legisi at one property and Ndreca at the second. Each of the men told police that the cannabis grows were already set up when they arrived to stay at the addresses. Each were three-bedroomed homes with several rooms filled with cannabis plants.
At one house, 393 plants were at various stages of growth. At the other, 521 pots had been used to grow cannabis. A large bulk amount of cannabis had been harvested at the house.
A police expert could not estimate a value of the cannabis grown, although it was estimated that the yield from the 521 pots was around 28kg. “They would have had awareness of the grow but not the wider operation at both the properties,” said Mr Hammersley. “Both were substantial grows and capable of producing large amounts of cannabis.”
Oliver Shipley, mitigating, said that Ooijen was a Dutch national who suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, having served with the army in Bosnia. There had been a persistent deterioration in his mental health over the years. He came to the UK in 1999 to work and he had three sons, all living in the Hull area.
Michael Masson, representing Ndreca, said that the defendant arrived at the property when it was already set up and he had nothing to do with the abstraction of electricity.
Ndreca came to this country on a boat from France two years ago with the aim of getting a job in the construction industry. “He was told it was an opportunity to make money,” said Mr Masson. “He feels he has been manipulated.”
Mr Masson said that the reality for Ndreca and Legisi was that they would be deported back to Albania.
Cathy Kioko-Gilligan, representing Legisi, said that he entered the UK illegally by boat two years ago, lost his passport and was unable to get work or accommodation in London. When he moved to Hull, he was offered accommodation at the house, where he had been for over one week. “He has learned a valuable life lesson that nothing in life comes free,” said Miss Kioko-Gilligan.
“He will be deported. He has ruined all the opportunities he would have had if he had come to the UK legally.”
Recorder Geraldine Kelly said that the three men played a limited role and there was no evidence that they were aware of the wider operation. But they were aware of the scale of it within each of the properties, which had large commercial quantities of cannabis.
Ooijen was jailed for 13 months, Ndreca for nine months and Legisi for eight months.