A man who was forced to grow more than £110,000 of cannabis on behalf of Albanian gangsters has been jailed.
Astrit Veliu, 53, who has been on remand since last year, pled guilty to the two charges of growing and supplying the Class B drug and appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court from custody.
Police raided a flat on George Street last year and found Astrit there with dozens of mature cannabis plants and dozens more smaller saplings.
The highest estimated value of the mature plants was £55,890 and the saplings, if grown to maturity, could have sold for £54,270 – a total of £110,160.
Fiscal depute Lucy Simpson told the court police had been tipped off about a cannabis farm at the flat and went there on August 22 last year.
“Officers could hear droning noises coming from within which were suspected to be the noise of fans which are synonymous with cannabis cultivations,” Ms Simpson said.
“Upon entering it was found to contain a well-established cannabis cultivation within three rooms which consisted of 69 mature plans split between two rooms and 67 saplings within one room.”
Extensive cultivation system
The court heard that the flat had been “extensively modified” with false walls, lights, fans, air filtration systems and the electricity meter being bypassed.
Veliu, an Albanian national who does not speak English, was arrested and taken to Kittybrewster custody suite and was remanded prison after a court appearance on August 24 2023.
Veliu’s defence agent Tony Burgess argued that the sapling plants were not worth such a high value and asked for the sheriff to sentence his client accordingly.
Suggesting his client had been coerced into guarding the plants, Mr Burgess said Veliu was “desperate, destitute, vulnerable and terrified”.
He said: “Albanian criminals had made threats and they follow through with their threats.
“That is the position he found himself in.”
Sheriff Gareth Jones accepted that the younger plants would not be worth as much at the time of Veliu’s arrest, but had the “potential” to fetch more.
He added: “The drug value is still high, and the cultivation operation was well-established.
“I will bear in mind the role you played on that basis, and that you are a first offender.”
Veliu, whose address was given as HMP Grampian, was sentenced to 16 months in prison, backdated to August 2023.