Failed Albanian asylum seeker responsible for £400,000 cannabis farms in Chatham and Hartlepool is jailed at Teesside Crown Court

Saimir Ferati, who came to the UK from Albania when he was just 16, was arrested after police raided a cannabis farm inside an end terraced house in Stephen Street last December.

The Mail was with Cleveland Police when officers broke down the door and discovered a number of cannabis plants, valued between £29,000 and £88,000, in a room upstairs and in the loft.

Ferati, 26, was not there at the time but was later stopped in a VW Golf that had previously been seen parked in Stephen Street and he had keys for the house where the cannabis was found.

Drugs paraphernalia was also found in a house in Dent Street, Hartlepool, where he was living in “pretty squalid” conditions.

It emerged that Ferati was also wanted by police in connection with another cannabis farm, operated by the same criminal gang, in Chatham, Kent.

A total of 148 plants with a street value up to £312,000 were seized in September 2020.

Ferati was arrested in April 2021 in Cheshire before disappearing after being released under investigation.

Teesside Crown Court heard Ferati admitted acting as a “gardener” at both cannabis farms by operating the lighting and watering the plants on the orders of others higher up the chain.

A trial on the issue of his level of involvement was held after his lawyer submitted Ferati only performed a “limited role”.

He claimed he got involved after losing his bid for asylum and being out of work during the first lockdown.

He said he borrowed £15,000 from some fellow Albanians who said he could work off the debt but claimed he did not know they were criminals at the time.

Matthew Hopkins, defending, said Ferati accepted the money out of “desperation” and continued working in the cannabis farms out of fear.

But the judge agreed with the prosecution that he carried out a significant role and said Ferati’s account was not credible.

Jailing him for two-and-a-half years for two counts of production of cannabis, Recorder Mark Giuliani said: “I have seen the photographs of both operations.

“They are clearly large commercial operations.”