A “lengthy and detailed” police operation led to a wealthy Shropshire restaurant owner who controlled a major drugs supply ring across the Midlands being jailed for six years.

Qi Xing Weng, of Dale End Court, Ironbridge, was arrested following an investigation by Staffordshire Police’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit into the large-scale production of cannabis, following the discovery of “drug factories” across the Midlands.

He was sentenced yesterday.

Detective Sergeant Dave Hughes, from the Serious and Organised Crime Unit, led the investigation.

He said: “This lengthy and detailed inquiry led to the dismantling of an organised crime group which was behind wide-scale cannabis production across the West Midlands.

“Cannabis factories are not just about drugs, they’re often linked to other serious crime, such as people trafficking and money laundering.

“We will not tolerate them or the people behind them.”

Inquiries revealed the 29-year-old restaurant boss was behind one of the region’s biggest cannabis factories in Ward End, Birmingham, where 1,400 plants were recovered in a police raid in March 2008.

It is estimated that the building, a former Benefits Agency Office, had previously housed between 6,000 and 10,000 plants, with a street value of more than £1 million.

In May 2008 Staffordshire Police, assisted by West Mercia Police and the Immigration and Borders Agency, executed search warrants at Weng’s home in Ironbridge, and Chinese and Thai restaurants, then owned by Weng, in Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent, Telford, Ironbridge and Shrewsbury.

A bin liner containing £170,000 in cash was found hidden in loft insulation at Weng’s house.

Further amounts of cash, including £23,000 at the Ironbridge restaurant, were also discovered.

Detectives also found a cannabis factory in its early stages, with 200 seedlings, at a house in Lower Ford Street, Coventry.

Weng’s fingerprints were found on the tenancy agreement.

Following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court, Weng was convicted by a jury of conspiracy to produce cannabis, concealing criminal property and possessing cannabis.

He was remanded in custody to be sentenced at a later date.