Grass Grower Grassed Up

The caretaker of a £50,000 cannabis grow operation in west London has been jailed for seven months.

Police were tipped-off about the property and Emiljan Ndreca, 25, was arrested during a police raid.

He pleaded guilty at Isleworth Crown Court to production of cannabis.

On Monday, August 9, officers from the West Area Violence Suppression Unit (VSU) attended an address in Woodhouse Avenue, Perivale.

Once inside officers discovered it was being used as a cannabis factory, with multiple rooms set up for the growth of cannabis.

Homeless Ndreca was the only person there and was working on and supervising the crop.

The cannabis seized had a street value of approximately £50,000. 

PC Kevin Taylor of the Violence Suppression Unit team 2 said “This was a great result following vital intelligence passed to us by the public. 

“Cannabis production and the sale of it is a vital income source for organised crime groups and gangs. 

“The money from it is used to fund further criminal activities and fuels ongoing violence on the streets. 

“Shutting down this factory and imprisoning Ndreca who was being used to cultivate the crop has taken a tool out of the hands of the gangs to make money and fund criminal activities. 

“We will do our best to shut down as many of these as we can and imprison anyone we can identify in the involvement of setting up or running them. 

“This is just a small part of the work we are doing every day to help drive down drug related violence in the West Area.”