Man caught growing 415 cannabis plants at Ebbw Vale house

Armando Shpati was arrested at an address on Alexandra Street in Ebbw Vale where the electricity had been bypassed causing “a significant fire risk” to neighbours.

The 24-year-old Albanian had entered the UK illegally and was put to work “in squalid conditions” as a gardener by criminals further up the chain.

Sol Hartley, prosecuting, told Cardiff Crown Court: “This was a large scale operation as seen by the nature of the specialised equipment within it.

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“This is a terrace house and there was a significant amount of electrical equipment there that was unregulated and not installed in accordance with what you'd expect.

Armando Shpati

“And so the crown’s submission is effectively that there was a significant risk of fire and a significant threat to those living on either side.”

Shpati admitted producing cannabis with the offence being committed on January 29.

Gareth Williams for the defendant said his client had worked as a barman and a waiter in his native Albania before arriving in Britain.

He asked the court to take into account his guilty pleas, his young age and his previous good character with no convictions recorded against him.

Judge Simon Mills told Shpati: “In the United Kingdom we have huge problems caused by cannabis farms.

Some of the cannabis grown by the defendant. Picture: CPS Wales

“They produce a drug which destroys people’s lives.

“Cannabis causes mental health problems and it reduces the will of people to make a productive life for themselves.

“It's grown in places like where you were caught where people live in squalid conditions.”

He added: “You were a gardener working for very small amounts of money and paying off a debt.

“When judges sentence cases like this the public have to know that the courts will deal with the people that get involved in operations like this in a firm way.”

Shapti was jailed for 15 months.