An Albanian illegal migrant who paid £4,000 to be smuggled into the UK on a small boat has been jailed for 15 months after he was caught helping to run a cannabis factory while under the care of the Home Office.
A court was told that Besmir Sula, 19, a baker, had been intercepted by British authorities on arrival in October last year, having crossed the Channel in a raft on a trip organised by people smugglers and with other migrants.
He was initially held in a detention centre but was then moved to a hotel run by the Home Office hotel, where he was given a phone so he could speak to his family in Albania.
He was contacted by the man in his home village from whom he had borrowed the money for his boat trip and was told he had to pay off the debt.
Sula was then picked up from the hotel and driven to a building between Cranbrook and Hawkhurst in Kent and was effectively “sealed” inside to act as a gardener for 500 plants. He had been there for about two months when police discovered the operation on December 29.
Maidstone crown court was told that the plants were capable of producing “significant quantities [of cannabis] for commercial use with a significant financial advantage”.
Sula pleaded guilty to producing cannabis. His barrister, John FitzGerald, said that Sula had been a victim of “organised gangs who exploit people into believing our streets are paved with gold”.
“He is from a village in Albania — very rural, very small and very poor,” FitzGerald said. “He earned €300 [£260] a month working all night in a baker’s and took the view he wanted a better life.
“He borrowed €4,500 from a man in Albania to travel to the UK illegally. He got in a boat with others he had never met and arranged by the sort of organised gangs who exploit people into believing our streets are paved with gold.”
The former commercial premises to which Sula was taken had all its doors and windows boarded up, apart from a small window on the top floor. He jumped through this window along with a 16-year-old boy who was also staying there, and they were found in a garden near by.
FitzgGerald said: “They were installed in the property by far superior criminals. They were vital to the success of the operation because the plants needed to be gardened. But he was never going to see any money. This is the base model those in these criminal groups exploit, and this young man was manna from Heaven for them.
“He is young, naive, from a remote part of Albania, works as a baker and I have no hesitation in agreeing with the conclusion in the pre-sentence report that to some extent he would appear to be the victim of modern-day slavery.”
Sula has been in custody since his arrest and his barrister urged the court to be “merciful” and accept that he had “done enough” time behind bars.
However, the judge, Douglas Marks Moore, said the task of looking after the cannabis plants was “menial but vital”. He told Sula: “I accept that this establishment was pretty much sealed for you to remain there.
“There is no doubt this was a commercial operation and well set up . . . If you didn’t have gardeners looking after the plants, they would die. While it’s a menial task, it’s an important task.”
He ordered that Sula serve his sentence in a young offender institution.
On the question of deportation on his release, the judge said it would be left to the Home Office but added: “It would be perfectly obvious that it would be conducive to the public good.”
Sula will be eligible for deportation to Albania as his sentence exceeds the 12 month to qualify for removal.
Eleanor Scott-Davies, prosecuting, said that police had forced their way into the building after hearing a phone ringing and footsteps. As well as the cannabis plants and factory paraphernalia, including a lot of electric cable, there were two beds and a stocked fridge.
“It was a highly professional operation capable of producing significant quantities for commercial use,” she said. “The prosecution accept he was performing his duties under direction, but he must have been aware of the scale of the operation and expectation of significant financial advantage.”
The 16-year-old found with Sula has pleaded not guilty and faces a trial in the youth court in June.
