14 DAY TRIAL // Two men from West Yorkshire were convicted to eight years in prison after growing half a million pounds ($828,150 or €602,000) worth of cannabis plants in a disused building in Leeds.
Robert Dibb and Wayne Ivory were cultivating the cannabis crops in a four-room cellar concealed behind a trapdoor in an abandoned building. Their illegal operation was discovered after suspicions were raised about a disused former engineering works in Town Street, Stanningley.
Daily Mail informs that Police Constable Chris Davey was the one to raise questions and prompt an investigation after noticing a strong smell of pot and what appeared to be a new ventilation chimney on the roof of the building.
When officers entered the premises, all they found was a dusty workshop area filled with old furniture and waste, but they noticed something unusual: the floor was warm, despite the fact that there was no heating system installed.
At one point, they heard the sound of a large metal box being moved and saw a man pop up from a hole in the floor. When the trapdoor was lifted, a strong smell of cannabis invaded the room. The man quickly vanished down the opening after being summoned by the officers.
Police followed him down the ladder and discovered an illegal marijuana plantation and the two men bare-chested in the four-room cellar. Inside the secret pot factory, officers found more than 600 cannabis plants along with a bin bag full of buds that had been harvested. The total value of the capture was estimated at more than £500,000 ($828,150 or €602,000).
The two suspects had placed a metal box over the disguised trapdoor in order to conceal the cellar below.
42-year-old Wayne Ivory of Stanningley and Robert Dibb, 52, of Rawdon, were arrested and charged with producing more than 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of cannabis. They were found guilty after a trial at Leeds Crown Court.
Ivory was sentenced to five years in prison, while Dibb received a three-year penalty.
“This was a highly sophisticated cannabis growing operation that the offenders went to great lengths to conceal within what at face value appeared to be a dusty old disused factory,” Inspector Simon Jessup, of the Armley, Bramley and Stanningley Neighbourhood Policing Team, said.
“Yet again a significant quantity of cannabis has been seized before it could enter the illegal drugs market that fuels crime and anti-social behaviour in our communities,” he added.