An illegal immigrant smuggled into the UK in a lorry is due to be deported after being caught in a cannabis farm. Police swooped at a house in north Manchester after receiving a tip off about suspicious activity.
Inside the house they found 28-year-old Mariglen Avdo, an Albanian who was trafficked into the country after paying smugglers, as well as 140 cannabis plants. Avdo was brought to the house ‘against his will’ and ordered to maintain and water the plants.
He is now due to be deported after receiving a 13 month prison sentence. Police executed a search warrant at the property on Middleton Road in Crumpsall after receiving intelligence, Manchester Crown Court heard.
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Officers discovered cannabis plants in three rooms of the house, as well as lighting equipment. In the living room there were 73 plants, 35 plants were seized from one bedroom and a further 32 plants from another bedroom.
Cannabis had also recently been grown in the dining room. Avdo was found in one of the upstairs bedrooms and was arrested, prosecutor Adam White said.
When he was interviewed by police, he said he’d been forced to remain at the property against his will, but he declined to tell officers who was responsible. Nathan Goldstein, defending, said: “To his credit, he has put his hand up at this stage.
“He is the youngest of three, he was working as a lorry driver in Albania. Work dried up. He spent some time in Germany, work dried up. He was smuggled into this country about a year ago in a lorry.”
Avdo then worked in the construction industry in London and was brought to Manchester and told to look after the cannabis plants. “He was there about 10 days, he was threatened but he could have left, he says,” said Mr Goldstein.
“He will be deported, he is an illegal immigrant. He is anxious to go home, he is engaged.”
Under UK law, foreign criminals face automatic deportation if they are receive jail sentences of more than a year. Avdo, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to producing a class B drug.
Sentencing, Judge Anthony Cross QC told him: “You have had the very very good sense to plead guilty. I accept that you were trafficked here to this extent, you paid smugglers to get you into the country.
“You had a debt and had to pay them back. For those reasons the sentence is going to be shorter than otherwise it would have been.”
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