Father and son jailed for two years over South Shields cannabis farms
Sukdave Shabilla and his son Manroup were each jailed for two years at Newcastle Crown Court after admitting conspiracy to produce cannabis at rental properties controlled through their South Shields letting agency. Police found commercial cannabis farms at three properties, and the court valued the plot at more than 210,000 pounds.
Sukdave Shabilla, a former England under-18 hockey player, and his son Manroup were each jailed for two years at Newcastle Crown Court after admitting conspiracy to produce cannabis through their South Shields letting agency, HB Lettings.[1][2]The pair said they had been intimidated, with Manroup reporting a kidnapping and Sukdave saying live bullets were posted to him and a petrol bomb left at the family home, but the judge said they could have gone to the police.[1][2]
Police raids found professional cannabis farms at three properties controlled by the Shabillas and tended by Vietnamese gardeners: 216 plants at Beaufront Terrace in January 2014, 250 at Dacre Street, and 268 back at Dean Terrace that August after 12 plants found there that April had drawn no action.[1][2]The plot was valued at at least 210,000 pounds.[2]Two gardeners had already been sentenced and police were seeking another man linking the farms to an illegal operation in London.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The Express put the cannabis value at up to 250,000 pounds while Property Industry Eye reported at least 210,000 pounds and this report uses the lower figure.
The two Vietnamese gardeners already sentenced over the farms were named in neither report.
The man Northumbria Police sought over links between the South Shields farms and a London operation was not identified.
The sources give no separate date for the sentencing and 7 September is the publication date of the first report.
Darren Davis, 39, a homeless man, and his partner Catherine Evans, 36, were sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court in November 2026 for dealing 'spice' and a small cannabis quantity. Police found Davis carrying six bags of spice worth up to £750 on 2 June, and later searches of his hostel, a storage unit and Evans' home uncovered more drugs and thousands of pounds in cash.
Joel Niven, 20, of Walney near Barrow-in-Furness, was convicted of cannabis possession after officers recovered a sealed bag from him at Barrow Park. Magistrates fined him £80, ordered £117 in costs and surcharge, and sought forfeiture of the drugs. He had a previous caution for cannabis possession from December 2025.
Rorie Jeffs, 25, of Aylesbury, was found guilty of possession of cannabis at High Wycombe Magistrates' Court and ordered to pay £85 plus a further £26 surcharge. He was one of the most recent cases concluded at the court as reported in the 10 November 2026 round-up.
Three men were each jailed for four years over a large-scale cannabis factory in Greenock's former Tobacco Warehouse, raided in June 2025 with more than 1,000 plants. Ariel Ruko has appealed his sentence, with a hearing due at the High Court in Edinburgh on 17 November 2026.
