Cannabis grower caught with three-quarters of a million pounds of plants

Denald Sharku (23) grew hundreds of plants at his home on Selborne Street, Eastwood, and in the property next door.

The Albanian was jailed for 18 months at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday (15) but will be released because he has already spent nine months in custody.

Police raided Sharku’s home on December 3 last year and discovered that his property’s loft had been knocked through to next door’s.

Ms Victoria Rose, prosecuting, said: “The rooms throughout both properties had been converted for the production of cannabis with lighting systems and foil ducting insulation,” she said.

Ms Rose said officers found 127 plants in Sharku’s property and 666 next door, including 560 seedlings.

“The seedlings would not have reached maturity without planting, and the property was not large enough to accommodate them all,” she said.

The plants would have produced almost 79kg of cannabis had the seedlings reached maturity, or 20kg without the seedlings, the court heard.

The drugs, including the seedlings, would have had a street value of between £505,980 and £788,050, said Ms Rose.

Without the seedlings they would have been worth just over £200,000.

Sharku told officers on the day he was arrested that he had been forced to grow the cannabis by three Albanian men.

He said he had been in the property for two months, having first arrived in the UK last March.

“He said he had come to England to support his family by providing money and food and had initially worked a few days as a painter,” said Ms Rose.

Officers seized and analysed Sharku’s phone and found videos which showed him out of the house, having a meal and drinks with others and visiting Parkgate Shopping Centre.

Ms Rose said Sharku had had the keys to the house and could come and go as he pleased.

Sharku initially claimed he had only left the property once but after the images from his phone were shown to him he said if he had not gone for drinks with his employers they would have killed him.

An investigation by the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) found that Sharku had not been subjected to modern slavery, said Ms Rose.

Sharku pleaded guilty to the production of cannabis following the investigation.

Mitigating, Mr James Beck said: “This is a young Albanian man coming to this country to make money because it’s not viable to him in his home country.”

Sentencing Sharku to 18 months in prison, Recorder Keir Monteith said he had a significant role in the production of cannabis despite living in basic conditions with little money.

“There are mitigating factors - your young age, your remorse for the offence, that it's been difficult in prison which has been subject to restrictions due to Covid-19,” he said.

“You must commit no further offence or you will be liable to serve a further period in custody.”