The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Hundreds of cannabis plants were found growing in a Spalding house after police raided the building, Lincoln Crown Court was told today (Wednesday).
Officers found that the electricity supply to the house in Bridge Street in the town was bypassed and rooms had been converted for growing cannabis.
Andrew Fitch-Holland, prosecuting, said that a total of 783 cannabis plants were found growing in a number of rooms and two men found inside the house were arrested.
Written instructions advising the two men how to feed and water the cannabis plants was discovered inside the premises.
Mr Fitch-Holland told the court: “This would suggest that the two men were acting under the direction of others.”
The two men arrested, Dilaver Shnari and Sali Tafa, later admitted to police what they had been doing.
Both said they had paid money to be brought into the UK and then taken to Spalding where they believed they would be working on a construction site.
Shnari (48) and Tafa (32), who were both living at the Bridge Street address, both admitted a charge of producing cannabis on August 10 this year. They were each jailed for seven months.
Karen Walton, for Tafa, said he was brought into the UK from Belgium having come to this country planning to work and send cash back to support his family in Albania.
“He thought he was going to work on a construction site but was taken to the house in Spalding. It was then very evident that he was going to be asked to look after the cannabis plants.
“He had to repay the debt to the people who brought him to the UK. The inference from these people was that if he didn’t continue, they would contact his family.”
Leanne Summers, for Shnari, said his circumstances were similar to those of Tafa although he actually did some construction work for a number of days before being brought to Spalding.
“His family are back in Albania and he wants to return there as soon as he can,” she said.
