Man jailed for involvement in 'sophisticated' cannabis operation at Sheffield home
A 43-year-old man has been jailed for his involvement in a ‘sophisticated’ cannabis operation, after police found nearly 400 plants at his Sheffield home.
Police executed a warrant at a house in Page Hall Road, Page Hall on September 11 this year, and found the defendant, Ibrahim Berdellima, at the property, Sheffield Crown Court heard.
Officers found a total of 382 plants that were located in five separate rooms in the property.
“148 of these plants were either medium or large plants, and were in a high light to plant ratio,” said Susan Evans, prosecuting.
She added: “There were 234 saplings. There was clearly a rolling process of cultivation at the address.”
Berdellima, of Page Hall Road, Page Hall answered ‘no comment’ to all questions in police interview, and was subsequently charged with producing cannabis.
He pleaded guilty to the charge at an earlier hearing.
Vanessa Saxton, defending, said Berdellima was an Albanian national who had come to the United Kingdom four-and-a-half years ago ‘on the back of a lorry’.
She said that when Berdellima arrived in the country he began working in the construction industry in London – after working in the same field in Albania.
“He has four siblings remaining in Albania, and his mother who is very unwell.
“Due to a downturn in the industry, and his mother requiring him to pay for an operation in Italy, he took the opportunity to come to this area and work for others who had set up this cannabis process,” said Ms Saxton.
She said Berdellima was brought in to work in the cannabis operation by people ‘who did not give their name’ and promised to pay him £1,000 a month for his involvement in it.
“The people who put him into the property visited him once every three or four weeks. They in fact paid him two lots of £200 for food, and he never received the amount that had been agreed.
“He knew it was illegal to grow cannabis,” she said.
Judge David Dixon sentenced Berdellima to 22 months in prison, and ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the cannabis recovered from his property.
“This was a sophisticated cannabis grow. There were 382 plants, of which a third are heading towards maturity. The remaining two-thirds are saplings, showing this was a rolling grow,” said Judge Dixon.
He added: “This was a substantial grow, and you were doing so for financial benefit.”