Kent Police raided a disused commercial site in School Lane, Ramsgate, on the morning of 1 June 2023 and found it fully converted into a cannabis farm.[1][2] Officers from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, with the Thanet Task Force and Divisional Support Unit, seized the crop and dismantled the growing rooms.[1]
The building, formerly three floors of offices plus a basement and loft, had been entirely given over to growing and preparing cannabis except for four rooms used as makeshift living quarters.[2] Officers found more than 1,000 plants at different growth stages, 291 lamps powered by a bypassed electricity supply, and fans, heaters and lights in every room.[2] Three men found trying to leave through the back door, Shkelzen Vata, Fabio Maloku and Zylfi Hata, all of no fixed address, were arrested.[1][2]
Detectives estimated the crop could have produced cannabis worth between £105,000 and £540,000.[2] At Canterbury Crown Court on 7 September 2023 the three admitted being concerned in the production of cannabis.[2] Hata, 35, and Maloku, 22, whose claims of coercion the judge rejected, were each jailed for two years and one month; Vata, 21, who admitted responsibility at the earliest opportunity, received 22 months.[2]
