Albanian cannabis 'gardener', 27, caught at £72,000 Newtown grow factory after previously being deported
Judge adjourns sentence so basis of plea can be considered
A migrant deported after growing cannabis in Britain snuck back in and was caught in a factory with 130 plants worth £72,800, a court heard.
Albanian Shahin Gjoni, aged 27, claimed he was “compelled” to return because he owed money to others who ran the drugs operation.
But a Mold Crown Court judge adjourned sentencing until September 7 for the defence to submit “a basis of plea”.
Recorder Paul Lewis said he wasn’t prepared to sentence Gjoni at this stage and the defendant might need to give evidence about his claim.
Police in Newtown, Powys, had raided an industrial unit and discovered the migrant in a “purpose-built hide”, prosecutor Samuel Wiggs said.
A deportation order had been made in April 2024 after Gjoni was jailed for 36 weeks in February the same year for producing cannabis.
Graeme Wilson, defending, said Gjoni was a “gardener” at the unit in Wales. He came back to Britain at the end of May.
Gjoni pleaded guilty to producing cannabis and entering the UK in breach of a deportation order. He was remanded into custody at Berwyn jail, Wrexham.