COURT | Man jailed after being found in cannabis factory with £232k-worth of plants

A man has been jailed for two years after he was found in a house converted into a sophisticated cannabis factory containing 249 plants.

Elton Haizi, aged 25, of no fixed abode, was found inside the property in Highmead Avenue, Llanelli, when police executed a warrant there on 13 December 2021.

Arrested at the scene where officers found plants with a potential street value of £232,400, the Albanian national initially tried to claim he was forced to be there.

However, extensive work by officers from Dyfed-Powys Police’s Carmarthenshire Priority Policing Team (PPT) and Digital Communications and Cybercrime Unit (DCCU), showed this was not the case and that he was linked to an organised crime group (OCG) involved in the cultivation and distribution of cannabis.

Senior investigator DI Rhys Jones said of the raid: “Every room in the property had been converted into a professional and sophisticated cannabis factory.

“The house had 250 mature, high quality plants inside, so this was good early disruption of the OCG following excellent work from officers to identify and develop the intelligence, and from the PPT, which has resulted in a result following a significant volume of cannabis being recovered. 

“Hazizi initially claimed he was forced or coerced to work in the factory. However, excellent work from our investigators and the DCCU recovered mobile phone work to the contrary.

Based on this Hazizi pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in custody. 

“This was an excellent, early disruption of a cannabis factory linked to subjects from the Western Balkans region that are having a major impact both locally and nationally.”

Hazizi was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court on Tuesday, 1 February.