A 42-year-old Albanian man who was caught tending a £1.9million cannabis plantation in disused office rooms above Gloucester Job Centre last summer was jailed on Thursday (February 22) for 25 months.

Gloucester Crown Court heard that police were informed about the smell coming from the upper floors of the former Argos store building on the corner of Eastgate Street and Brunswick Road by Job Centre Plus staff, who had also been alerted by a water leak from upstairs.

Prosecutor Simon Goodman said officers went to investigate on August 18, 2023.

He said no entry was gained on that occasion but three days later when the Job Centre staff noticed a man entering the building from the loading bay the police were contacted again.

"This time the officers forced an entry to the building and found on the upper floors that 16 rooms had been created to cultivate the 2,373 cannabis plants, which were at various stages of development," said Mr Goodman.

"The police also found a 42 year old Albanian man, Ylber Dajci hiding amongst the plantation, which was estimated to have been able to produce between 66 kilograms and 199 kilograms of the class B drug. The potential value was £1.9 million if sold in street deals."

Dajci, of no fixed address, admitted to police that he was being 'gainfully employed' as a gardener in the cannabis production, but had little involvement in the rest of the operation.

This was echoed by the police drug's expert who concluded that Dajci was himself in a poor condition and agreed that he was a gardener and a custodian of the operation and was purely responsible for the everyday care of the plants. The expert surmised that under the circumstances Dajci was likely to have been paid very little for his services.

The court was told that the electric meter to the upper floors of the building had been bypassed and that extensive electrical work had also been undertaken inside the building.

Catherine Spedding, defending, said that Dajci had arrived illegally in the UK from Albania some 18 months before he was arrested and added: "As part of this he had accrued a debt for being trafficked. While he fully intended to work legally, the lack of paperwork available to him prevented him from working legitimately and he fell back into the hands who trafficked him into the country. He was forced to become a gardener to pay back his debt.

"Dajci is a family man and bitterly regrets his involvement in this criminal enterprise as he fully believed he was coming to this country to work legally. The reality, however, was very different.

Dajci admitted that between August 17 and 22, 2023, he was concerned in the manufacture and production of cannabis in Eastgate Street, Gloucester, by acting as a gardener.

The judge, Recorder James Bromige said there was no evidence that Dajci had been in trouble with the police in this country or Albania prior to this offence.

He added: "This, because of the number of cannabis plants being cultivated and the equipment being used across 16 rooms in the vacant upper floors, was an industrial operation."

He told Dajci: "This was brazen criminal offending and you were found inside the property. It appears that nobody else has been arrested or punished for this offence. However, I am satisfied you were not working alone.

"The police's drug expert concludes you were acting as the gardener and will be sentenced accordingly, despite remaining silent throughout these proceedings. I don't think I am getting the full picture here, but I am not holding this against you.

"The yield has an extraordinary value with the upper estimate being £1.9million, an industrial amount of cannabis in anybody's books."

The judge sentenced Dajci to a prison term of 25 months and warned him that as he is a foreign national he is likely to be deported back to Albania after serving half his sentence.

The judge also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of all drugs and paraphernalia.