Emiljan Doci (Image: South Wales Police)
Last Updated: 3 minutes ago
A man smuggled into the UK in the back of a lorry was caught tending to a cannabis crop worth an estimated £88,000 just 10 days after arriving in Britain, Swansea Crown Court has heard.
Emiljan Doci, 38, was working at a terraced property in Hanover Street, Uplands, when officers executed a search warrant on 23 March. The judge told him he “fully expected” him to be deported following his sentence.
The raid
Officers initially found the rear entrance of the house had been double-barricaded, forcing them to gain access through the front door. Once inside, they discovered the entire property had been converted for cannabis production, with 205 mature plants and associated growing equipment distributed across the rooms. The electricity supply had also been bypassed to power the operation, prosecutor Sian Cutter told the court.
Police later estimated the potential wholesale value of the haul at around £88,000.
The rooftop escape
In the attic, officers noticed a number of roof tiles and timbers had been removed, suggesting someone had climbed out onto the roof. Their suspicions were confirmed when workmen on a nearby house approached them, saying they had spotted a man moving across the terrace rooftops and apparently trying to get into another property.
Doci was located and arrested shortly afterwards. He was carrying a mobile phone and £500 in cash.
Smuggled from France
In interview, Doci told officers he had arrived in the UK only 10 days earlier, having been driven to Britain in a lorry from France. He said he had been taken directly to Swansea and told he could pay off an £18,000 debt owed for his transport into the country by working at the cannabis farm.
He said he had not wanted to be involved in the operation but was concerned for the safety of his family back in France.
Defence
Caitlyn Jones, mitigating, told the court her client had been brought to Britain by a man in France whom he had not been able to identify. She said Doci had been warned there would be “big trouble” if he attempted to leave the Hanover Street address, and that he remained worried about the welfare of his wife and two daughters, who were still in France.
Doci, of no fixed abode, had pleaded guilty to producing cannabis. He has no previous convictions in the UK.
Sentencing
Recorder Greg Bull KC told the defendant that by entering the country illegally he must have known he would have no lawful means of earning a living. The judge accepted that Doci’s role had been that of a “gardener” and that he had played no greater part in the cannabis-production operation.
With a one-third reduction for his guilty plea, Doci was sentenced to 20 months in prison. He will serve 40% of the term in custody before becoming eligible for release on licence.
Recorder Bull added that he “fully expected” the defendant to be deported.
