THREE men who were arrested when the police raided what was believed to have been a mobile cannabis factory that had been set up in a Rugby house have been jailed.
But because of the time they have already spent in custody, Klodjan Blana, Kladji Xhalili and Desan Kameniku will be freed almost immediately, a judge has told them.
All three had pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to producing cannabis at an address in Lawford Road, Rugby, with Blana and Kameniku having originally denied the charge.
Blana, 32, an Albanian national of no fixed address, and Kameniku, 27, who holds an Italian passport but is also originally from Albania, and of no fixed address, were jailed for 10 months.
Xhalila, 21, also an Albanian of no fixed address, was jailed for eight months after being given credit for entering his plea at an earlier stage than the other two.
Prosecutor Ian Windridge said the police raided a terraced house in Lawford Road on October 12 last year after receiving information that cannabis was being grown there.
As officers went into the house though the front door, the three defendants made a run for it through the back door – straight into the arms of other officers who arrested them.
Police found two rooms had been converted for the growing of cannabis, and the electricity meter had been by-passed.
There were 89 plants being cultivated with the aid of growing lamps and extractor fans.
The plants, which would have produced cannabis worth around £32,000 when mature, had been taken from cuttings, rather than having been grown from seed.
“Because of the nature of the set-up, the police are satisfied that this could have been a relatively mobile operation,” said Mr Windridge.
When the three men were interviewed they all denied having any involvement in growing the cannabis, claiming they were there on behalf of others to do some decorating work.
But Xhalili entered his plea on the basis that he had been at the house for about a week to act as a ‘gardener.’
When the other two later entered their pleas, Blana did so on the basis that he had been assisting in the cultivation for about three days.
Kameniku said his role had been to purchase and deliver some chemicals to the address and to help with dismantling some of the equipment.
Mr Windridge added that Blana and Xhalili had both entered the country illegally, and none of the three had any previous convictions.
Jailing the three, Deputy Judge Richard Griffith-Jones told them: “Cannabis production units… provide a focus of danger because it is not unknown for criminals to fight over drugs, and they provide a public nuisance to people who live in the area and a loss of electricity.
“People who are organising such units must expect substantial prison sentences.
“However, it is often the case that people who are at the scene are operating in as lesser role, because the organisers don’t take the risk of being as visible.
“It is also the case that for you Blana and Xhalili, as illegal immigrants you can be used by unscrupulous criminals.”
But the judge pointed out: “The sentences will in effect mean your release either straight away or in a short time.”
