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11 months ago
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An Albanian migrant who arrived in Britain on a small boat just over two years ago has been jailed for a second time after being caught working at a 150-plant cannabis factory.
Police found Rexhep Jemini, 37, hiding in the loft of a house where he was growing more than 150 cannabis plants - just weeks after he was released from prison for a similar offence.
Norwich Crown Court heard how Jemini had arrived in the UK in August 2021 after crossing the Channel in a small boat operated by people smugglers.
He spent three months working on building sites in London before being approached by an Albanian man who gave him a job at a cannabis farm in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
But he was caught on February 15 this year and jailed for 12 months at Leeds Crown Court in March after he admitted cannabis production.
Rexhep Jemini, who arrived in Britain on a small boat just over two years ago, has been jailed for a second time after being caught working at a 150-plant cannabis factory
Police found Jemini, 37, hiding in the loft of a house where he was growing more than 150 cannabis plants
Andrew Oliver, defending, said Jemini had no money when he was released from his prison sentence.
He met another Albanian man who provided him with food and accommodation for a few weeks, and was told he had to work for 120 days to pay off his debt.
As part of the deal, he ended up tending another cannabis growing operation at a house in School Road, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
Police searched rooms at the Great Yarmouth property on November 7 this year, and found a 'sophisticated cultivation operation' with more than 150 plants in different stages of growth.
Growing equipment was also in the house, and it was discovered that the electricity supply to the property had been 'dangerously tampered with'.
Jemini had been used to 'supervise the crop' as 'a gardener', said prosecutor Oliver Haswell.
He remained silent when interviewed by police, but admitted production of cannabis and was jailed for 18 months.
Judge Alice Robinson said that in the short time he had been in the country, he had 'demonstrated a flagrant disregard for the law' having been involved in two cannabis growing operations in Great Yarmouth and Wakefield.
She described the Norfolk cannabis factory as an 'ongoing, sophisticated operation', although she accepted he had played a 'lesser role'.
Jemini's barrister argued that he should be given credit for his guilty plea.
The court heard he had come to the UK of his own accord but paid a gang to smuggle him illegally into the country and was initially held in detention (stock image)
Jemini had stated that said that he wanted get a job at a carwash or in a butcher's shop after his three months growing cannabis (stock image)
The hearing at Leeds Crown Court was told how he had been employed to grow cannabis in in Parkinson Close on the Eastmoor estate in Wakefield for three months.
He was given money to buy food from the shops just once a fortnight and was told he would be paid £1,500 at the end of the three months.
But police who were armed with a search warrant raided the house on February 15 this year when he was two months into his stint, and found 86 cannabis plants across two rooms and the loft.
They also found transformers and lights consistent with a professional set up, prosecutor Ben Whittingham told Leeds Crown Court.
Judge, Recorder Richard Woolfall told him: 'You were recruited by others to act as a gardener. It was a sophisticated growing operation. I accept for you it was temporary employment after you came to this country in the hope of a better life.'
Jemini had stated that said that he wanted get a job at a carwash or in a butcher's shop after his three months growing cannabis.
The court heard he had come to the UK of his own accord but paid a gang to smuggle him illegally into the country and was initially held in detention.
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