VIDEO: See inside £500,000 town centre cannabis farm after two men are jailed

TWO men who worked at a £500,000 cannabis farm found in a former town centre card shop have been jailed for 20 months each.

TWO men who worked at a £500,000 cannabis farm found in a former town centre card shop have been jailed for 20 months each.

Florjan Duraj (31) and Ha Vo (34), both of no fixed address, were jailed at Sheffield Crown Court today (Thursday) after admitting a joint charge of cannabis production.

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Duraj, an Albanian national, and Vo, a Vietnamese national, who appeared via video link, both pleaded guilty on the basis they had a less significant role in the operation at the former Clinton's Cards shop on College Street.

Police discovered a total of 867 cannabis plants being cultivated by Duraj and Vo on March 29.

 

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Ms Susan Evans, prosecuting, said both accepted they had been motivated by money to help cultivate the drugs.

“The cannabis plants were being grown in an empty shop premises in the centre of Rotherham,” she said.

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“Both offenders tried to escape from the back of the property.

“The police found 867 cannabis plants with a further 200 saplings being grown.”

Ms Evans said the plants had an estimated street value of between £320,000 and £500,000.

Mr Francis Edusei, representing Vo, said his client was only employed to water the plants.

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“He needs money to get a passport and tickets back to Vietnam and he had been at the property for about two days at the time of his arrest,” he said.

Mr Edusei said Vo entered the UK six years ago and wanted to return to Vietnam.

Mr Ian Goldsack, representing Duraj, said: “He is aware that he is liable to be returned to Albania at the end of his sentence.”

Judge Paul Watson said Duraj and Vo would have been jailed for at least two-and-a-half years had they pleaded not guilty.

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He said: “You were both engaged, I accept, by others to look after and cultivate a very large crop of cannabis.

“Over 850 plants were found with a street value of over a quarter of a million pounds.

“I accept that you were being used by others and that you were both in need of what seemed to be easy money.

“You both involved yourselves in serious offending.”