A CANNABIS farmer who was growing up to £39,000 worth of the drug in a Rugby bungalow has been jailed.
Emanuel Ago, 24, of no fixed abode, has been sentenced to 34 months in prison for operating the cannabis farm, and for breaching a deportation order made in June of last year.
He is also required to pay a surcharge of £228 towards victim services.
Officers from Rugby’s Proactive CID team came across the cannabis farm at a house in Moyeady Avenue in the Paddox area during a morning walk in July.
Believing it was likely cannabis was being grown inside, they knocked on the door – and tiles on the roof moved as if bumped from inside, making it clear that there was someone inside the property.
After forcing entry to the three-to-four-bedroom bungalow, they found 99 cannabis plants growing inside using high-voltage grow lights with reflectors, sophisticated ventilation systems with carbon filters and extraction ducting, and large containers of liquid plant feeds.
Many of the plants were only a few weeks away from flowering and being ready for harvest.
In a walk-in cupboard, 109 cannabis cuttings were found growing under an additional lamp.
Expert witnesses placed the total value of the grow between £31,500 and £39,500.
The electric supply had also been bypassed, with an engineer having to attend the property to make it safe again.
Ago was discovered hiding underneath insulation in the loft, and was arrested shortly afterwards.
He had previously been arrested under the same circumstances operating another cannabis grow 18 months prior, and was deported to his home country.
DC Rapkins of Rugby Proactive CID said: “Farms like this create a significant amount of revenue for organised crime gangs, whose willingness to commit violence to protect their assets and to treat human lives as expendable makes them a serious threat to our society.
“Emanuel Ago’s sentence gives him 34 months to consider finally putting down the trowel and doing something less harmful and more productive with his life.”
