A man who let an organised crime gang take over an industrial estate unit and transform it into a £140,000 cannabis farm has been jailed.
Kevin McGarvey, 35, is understood to have been in thrall to an underworld group for many months when a unit he rented at Cuminestown Industrial Estate was raided by police.
Finding it set up as a working cannabis farm with lights and growing tents, police officers linked McGarvey to the unit through paperwork they found when they searched his home.
The maximum potential value of the cannabis found was £137,850.
His solicitor, Leonard Burkinshaw, told the court that McGarvey was being “intimidated” by the gang and should have been “brave enough” to go to the police.
However, Sheriff Philip Mann took the view that McGarvey was “personally involved” in a “substantial and sophisticated” criminal enterprise and jailed him for more than two years.
Police could smell cannabis coming from unit
Fiscal depute Andrew McMann told the court that between September and November 2019, police had received intelligence that cannabis was being grown at Unit A, Cuminestown Industrial Estate near Turriff.
It was also stated that the person responsible for the unit drove a Mitsubishi Lancer, which was found to be registered to McGarvey.
Police went to the property on November 1 2019 and could hear several fans whirring inside and could detect a strong smell of cannabis coming from the building.
Upon entering the unit, police found five growing tents and a number of jars containing cannabis.
Packaging was found on the floor that bore McGarvey’s name and home address.
Officers then obtained a search warrant for McGarvey’s home where “paperwork in the name of the accused was recovered along with various notebooks containing handwritten notes relating to cultivation equipment and instructions for caring for plants”.
Mr McMann added that paperwork in the name of McGarvey was also found in relation to the rental of the unit.
As police conducted a thorough search of the unit, they found scores of plants growing within tents with the aid of lights, heaters, thermostats and extractor fans.
They also found numerous jars containing cannabis.
The total maximum value of cannabis found was £137,850.
In the dock, McGarvey pleaded guilty to one charge of producing a controlled drug.
‘A salutatory lesson’
Defence solicitor Leonard Burkinshaw told the court that his client had “never taken drugs himself” and that it was his position that he had sublet his tenancy but nothing was ever put in writing.
“There was a significant amount of what could be called coercion,” the solicitor said.
“Had he been brave enough to go to the police he could have reported it – but he knew nothing about the drug trade or the law.
“Mr McGarvey was frightened and intimidated and he accepts that it was a bad decision.
“He did not carry out any of the farming or cultivation, but he was facilitating the enterprise – he’s learned a salutary lesson from this.”
Sheriff Mann told McGarvey: “You have pled guilty to producing a controlled drug and it seems from the information that the Crown has that it was you who was personally involved in growing the drug.
“What we are dealing with here is a very substantial and sophisticated operation – it’s a very significant cultivation.”
The sheriff stated that despite McGarvey’s limited criminal record he could see no alternative to a custodial sentence and jailed McGarvey, of Plane Trees, Cuminestown, for 28 months.
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