A cannabis factory in a Thurso house was worth more than £120,000, a court heard yesterday.
Clive Howard, 45, appeared on indictment at Wick Sheriff Court yesterday and pleaded guilty to producing cannabis and recklessly by-passing the electricity supply to the danger of himself and others, from fire or explosion.
The offence occurred on June 14 last year.
Pleas of not guilty to stealing electricity and being concerned in the supply of the Class B drug were accepted by fiscal Fraser Matheson.
The court was told that police, who arrived at the accused’s home at Kirk View, Thurso, discovered that it had been converted for the production of cannabis.
It became obvious that the electricity supply had been by-passed by Howard, who connected a cable to the mains supply where it joined the meter.
Mr Matheson said it took two SSEB engineers two hours to make the building safe, with power for the entire street having to be cut off while they worked.
The fiscal went on: “They said that the cable had been interfered with to such an extent that there was a danger of it catching fire or exploding at any time.”
Once the property was safe, the police proceeded to carry out a search and discovered an extensive cultivation of 137 cannabis plants.
Mr Matheson said that if all the plants had reached their peak they would have commanded a selling price of £123,000.
Sheriff Andrew Berry, who saw photos of the scene, called for a background report on Howard and warned him that a custodial sentence was “a very real possibility”.
He will be sentenced on November 8.