An Albanian man brought to the UK illegally with the promise of a better life before being put to work in a cannabis farm by an organised crime gang has been jailed.
Klajdi Karaj, despondent at the low paid jobs on offer in his homeland, responded to adverts on social media which told of the relative riches on offer in the UK. Having been smuggled into the country and put to work in a car wash and building site, the gang then told him he needed to pay his transportation debts more quickly and moved him to look after the cannabis farm.
Police executed a search warrant at Stratford Road, Heaton, Newcastle, on May 24 this year and found four rooms of the house had been turned into a cannabis farm. A total of 148 plants were present and the electricity meter had been bypassed. The court heard the value of the farm was somewhere between £14,000 and £61,000.
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Karaj was present and he was arrested. He refused to answer most questions but told police he had come to the UK illegally.
The 21-year-old, who has no previous convictions in this country, pleaded guilty to producing cannabis and was jailed for 14 months. Miss Recorder Davies, at Newcastle Crown Court, told him: "This was a large scale operation with a potential yield of perhaps up to £61,000. You have gained a significant financial advantage in that you accepted the position working in a cannabis farm in order to repay more quickly the cost of your transportation, illegally, to the UK and you received board and lodgings, also while working in the property.
"You made a clear and informed choice to come to this country illegally and I find it difficult to believe it's not as well known on social media that work in cannabis farms is amongst those means with which you would repay your transporters."
Sophie Allinson, defending, said: "He is at present an illegal immigrant and it is anticipated he will be deported at the end of his sentence. He is an Albanian national and came to the UK illegally at the age of 21.
"He reports a positive childhood in Albania with a strong family unit. However after leaving education and joining the employment market, he, like so many others, began experiencing significant dissatisfaction with the low rates of renumeration at home. He was doing demanding physical jobs for very little pay.
"All over social media, trips to the UK were being advertised by a variety of individuals, promising employment and with good pay and a quality standard of living if you travel to the UK."
Miss Allinson said Karaj was brought to the UK by an organised crime gang, who told him he could pay the debt for smuggling him in by working. He initially worked in a car wash run by the gang and on a building site but was then told the money needed to be paid back at a higher rate and he was told he would be moved to a property in Newcastle.
The court heard he didn't realise it was a cannabis farm until he got there and felt under pressure. His role was to water the plants and he was told he would only have to be there for three months.
