Luka Mecini, 22, and Blerim Salimusaj, 26, were each jailed for 18 months at Carlisle Crown Court on 31 March 2023 for farming hundreds of cannabis plants at two houses in the villages of Egremont and Cleator.[1]
Two houses, one evening
Officers first executed a warrant at a property in Brisco Road, Egremont, after a witness reported seeing two men arrive in an Audi to carry out painting work.[1] Tracing the car, police watched the same two men leave a property in Main Street, Cleator, on the evening of 28 February and found the second farm there.[1] Almost 200 plants grew in Egremont and 142 in Cleator, farmed between 1 December and 1 March.[1]
Both men admitted two charges of being concerned in cannabis production.[1] Salimusaj, of Lily Street in West Bromwich, had arrived in Britain in 2018 and was working to pay off a £20,000 debt owed for his trafficking passage; both men had entered the country illegally.[1] Judge Andrew Jefferies KC said the 18-month sentences meant both were liable for deportation at some point during the sentence.[1]
