Man hides £452k cannabis farm in former bank - gets caught

upday.com 2 godzin temu
Cannabis facility signage representing illegal drug cultivation operations (Illustrative image) (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images) Getty Images

A man has been jailed for eight months after police discovered he was operating a massive cannabis farm inside an abandoned bank building. Saimir Gjoniku, 32, was caught tending to 359 cannabis plants worth up to £452,000 in the former Lloyds Bank on Bridge Street, Newton-le-Willows.

The bank had been closed since 2022 and boarded up when Gjoniku converted it into a sprawling cannabis operation. Police were tipped off about suspicious activity and confirmed their suspicions when they smelled cannabis and heard fans whirring from outside the building.

Discovery and scale of operation

When officers raided the premises on May 19, they found most rooms had been converted for cannabis cultivation with growing equipment installed throughout. The plants had an estimated yield of between 10kg and 30kg of cannabis, with the lower end worth between £40,000 and £60,000 and the higher end between £300,000 and £452,000.

Police also discovered living quarters for Gjoniku, with a bed set up in the kitchen area and a fully stocked kitchen. Some plants had already been harvested and were in the process of drying when officers arrived.

Court proceedings and background

At Liverpool Crown Court on August 18, prosecutor Derek Jones outlined how police entered the building after detecting the cannabis operation from outside. Gjoniku, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to cannabis production and illegally abstracting electricity.

Defence lawyer Julian Nutter revealed that Gjoniku had previously held an honest job and tried to work hard, describing him as being "of previous good character in this country". He explained that Gjoniku's "whole life has been a misery now for some time" and that he had been used by organized criminals in France in a similar way before being traced to the UK.

Sentence and organized crime connections

Recorder C E O'Leary sentenced Gjoniku to eight months in prison, telling him: "You were in the position of growing cannabis because you owed money to an organised crime group." The recorder noted that the debt had built up in France and the group had traced Gjoniku to the UK, where they put him to work growing cannabis.

Gjoniku told officers after his arrest that he was "in a large amount of debt and being forced into tending the cannabis." The court heard this was not his first cannabis farm operation, and Nutter said Gjoniku was eager to return home to Albania after being released from HMP Liverpool.

Despite acknowledging that Gjoniku had been "clearly pressured to get involved in this behaviour", Recorder O'Leary rejected a suspended sentence. He said Gjoniku had indicated he would continue working for the organized crime group if asked, making rehabilitation unlikely at present.

Sources used: "Liverpool ECHO", "Manchester Evening News", "Daily Star" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.

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