Three men who turned disused industrial units in Dalmarnock, Glasgow, into a cannabis farm were jailed for a combined 24 years and six months at the High Court in Glasgow.[1][2] Keith Gartshore, 42, received nine years and three months, Ross Blackshaw, 37, eight years and six months, and Christopher Robb, 35, six years and nine months, after pleading guilty to drug supply charges with links to organised crime gangs.[1][2]
Police raided the Swanston Street units on 1 February 2020 and found 873 plants growing under dozens of lights and fans, a professional setup prosecutors valued at around £500,000, alongside almost £100,000 of criminal cash.[1][2] Gartshore had been setting up the units since May 2019, sourcing equipment and moving cannabis for sale, and in December 2019 officers watched him hand over a bag holding £53,555 of drug money in East Kilbride.[2] When held in early 2020 he carried a unit key and £38,000 of cannabis, Blackshaw dropped a laundry bag holding £15,200 of cannabis the same night, and Robb was later caught with £41,685 of drug money in Cambuslang.[2]
Sentencing them, Lord Scott said their involvement went well beyond the merely passing and the operation was plainly a sophisticated one.[1][2] Procurator fiscal Laura Buchan said the sentences reflected the gravity of offending that blights communities across Scotland.[1] Officers also recovered cocaine and ecstasy tablets at related properties during the inquiry.[2]
