A gang of drug growers tried to hide in the rafters during a cannabis farm raid yards from Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.
The group of three Albanians and a Greek were busted with more than 900 plants worth up to £760,000 at 16 Whytescauseway on May 19 last year.
The four men appeared from custody for sentencing at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court annexe – about 130 yards from their derelict former showroom “workplace”.
They earlier pled guilty to producing cannabis between May 16 and 19 2023.
The men, aided by an interpreter in court, had faced an allegation the offence was aggravated by links to serious organised crime but this was deleted from the charge.
Prosecutors also accepted not guilty pleas to charges of being concerned in the supply of cannabis and bypassing an electricity meter at the address.
Police raid
Prosecutor Matthew McPherson told the court police were tipped off about the “industrial scale hydroponic cannabis cultivation plantation”.
“Upon entering, all accused present proceeded to make off from the officers and attempted to evade capture by entering the attic space and attempting to conceal themselves in the attic rafters.”
Mr McPherson said the four men “eventually gave themselves up”.
The fiscal depute said police found a total of 905 cannabis plants, with a wholesale value estimate ranging between £101,360 and £304,080.
He said the corresponding potential street value ranged between £253,400 and £760,200.
Trafficking and tragedy
Defence lawyers highlighted their clients’ early guilty pleas and time already spent behind bars on remand, equating to 21-month sentences.
Defence agent David McLaughlin, representing 40-year-old Albanian Leonard Qana, said his client claimed to have been trafficked.
He suffered family tragedy earlier in life, he was brought up in relative poverty and accrued debt due to the healthcare system in his home country.
He said Qana accepts criminal culpability but highlighted although the Home Office reached a “negative conclusion” after assessing him as a potential human trafficking victim, it was because he had “not provided enough evidence”.
Defence lawyer Iain McCafferty, represented another Albanian, 28-year-old first offender Artur Pergjegji.
He said his remorseful client’s involvement “went against his own core values”.
He said Pergjegji’s asylum application was refused and he now finds himself with no right to remain in the UK.
Duncan McPhie, representing the third Albanian, Klaudio Qaru, 22, said his first offender client is an illegal immigrant to the UK.
Mr McPhie said: “He came to the UK and built up a debt and was forced to repay that debt by commission of the crime libelled.
“He came to the UK with the intention of bettering his life.”
Adam Scott, representing 21-year-old first offender Panagiotis Metsi from Greece, said upon release, an address would be open to him in England because unlike his co-accused, he has a work visa having previously worked in construction in London.
Sentencing
Sheriff Robert More told the men: “Each of you came to the UK with one hope – to make better your own lives, as well as the lives of those closest to you.
“It’s credible you became involved in this scheme with that intention, standing the appalling conditions in which you must have been operating.
“The expressions of remorse which have been made are similarly credible, having regard to the backgrounds of hardship and suffering which have been detailed.
“It has, in my opinion, been correctly identified that only sentences of prison are appropriate in the disposal of this case, having regard to the nature of the offence to which you pleaded guilty, as well as its scale.”
Sheriff More sentenced Qana and Pergjegji each to 18 months in prison and handed Qaru and Metsi 16 month sentences due to their younger ages.
All were backdated to May 22 last year, in effect meaning all have been released.
The ground floor of the property was formerly occupied by a shop but is now empty, with work going on inside the building this week.
For more local court content visit our page or join us on Facebook.
