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Tenant let rooms for drug farm
A FORMER pizza shop boss who allowed his home to be used for a cannabis farm has been jailed for four years.
Fawad Adib, 31, rented out two rooms of his house in Hartlepool which were converted into a sophisticated growing operation.
Teesside Crown Court heard the farm, in
Sandringham Road, could have produced 300,000 worth of cannabis a year if it was not smashed by police.
Officers discovered 140 plants and growing equipment in two upstairs bedrooms during a raid last November.
Adib, who previously managed Sorrento's takeaway in Church Street, was convicted of allowing premises to be used for the production of cannabis after a trial in July.
He claimed he knew nothing about the drugs because he had moved his bed downstairs and the rooms where the cannabis was were kept locked.
But a judge said it was inconceivable that Adib did not know what was going on.
Police also found a CCTV monitor in his part of the house which covered the front door.
The plants discovered could have produced between 19,600 and 78,040 worth of cannabis depending on how successfully it grew and the local drugs market.
But Recorder Jonathan Sandiford said if the farm produced four crops a year it could have given up to 30kg of the drug with a street value of 312,000.
Paul Cleasby, mitigating, said there was no evidence Adib knew the scale of the cannabis being grown.
He said: "There is no suggestion at all that he has had any financial benefit from this enterprise.
"Although he has closed his eyes to the blindingly obvious and will lose his liberty for the first time in his life, my submission is he falls below somebody who is actively tending the plants, knowing they are going to be cropped for commercial sale."
Adib, of Sandringham Road, Hartlepool, also admitted possessing small amounts of cannabis and amphetamine for personal use.
Recorder Sandiford said: "In my judgement, it is inconceivable that it cannot have been set up otherwise than with your full knowledge and consent.
"It is clear to me this is not simply a one-off, but it was a facility
which was intended would be used for a farm time and time again.
"That must have required your co-operation."
Detective Constable Jason MacTaggart, from Hartlepool Police, welcomed the sentence.
He said: "We were delighted with the outcome at court.
"The sentence issued sends out a strong message to those who persist in committing drugs offences that Cleveland Police will not tolerate this behaviour and we will do all we can to bring perpetrators to justice."
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Weather for Hartlepool
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Light sleet
Temperature: 0 C to 3 C
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