'Sad tale' of plumber and construction worker who looked after Kettering cannabis farm to pay off traffickers

Fabrizio Zika and Elmaz Idriz were caught out when police raided a home in Headlands and found cannabis worth potentially up to £415,000.

The Albanian nationals owed money to the gangs who had smuggled them into the UK and were told they would clear their debts by tending to the plants.

On Friday (June 21) the pair were each jailed for two years and four months after Northampton Crown Court heard the sad but regular tale of how they became involved in the criminal world.

Zika, 27, and Idriz, 38, were found on the decking at the rear of the large, semi-detached home when police raided it just before 9am on May 23.

A search across eight rooms at the three-storey property, where the pair were living, found 488 cannabis plants as well as electric cabling, lighting, heat lamps, sheeting and venting in a sophisticated set-up.

Prosecutor Micaila Williams said: “It’s a cannabis factory with rooms dedicated to different stages of growth.”

The cannabis plants were capable of producing a total projected yield of 83kg of drugs – worth between £249,000 and £415,000 on the streets.

Zika and Idriz, who communicated through an Albanian interpreter, went on to plead guilty to producing cannabis.

Caroline Bray, mitigating for both defendants, said Idriz came to the UK by lorry and worked as a plumber until those who paid for his entry came to collect their debt and made him work as a gardener at the house.

He had been there for 45 days when he was arrested and was initially told by the criminal gang that he would be released on June 10, where he had planned to go back to working as a plumber. The court heard he offered his apologies for his actions.

Ms Bray said: “This was done out of desperation and he knows he must be punished.”

Zika came to the UK by boat and his debt started at £8,000 but soon became nearly £20,000.

He worked cash in hand in construction, with some money taken from his earnings by those he had the debt with. But they decided they were not getting paid back quickly enough and said he would have to work for three months before his debt was cleared.

Ms Bray said: “Both tell me they intend to return home at the end of their sentence…as life here did not turn out to be what they had hoped.”

His Honour Judge Rupert Mayo sentenced the pair to two years and four months in prison, with up to half in custody, although they are likely to be deported.

He said: “The tale I have heard from prosecution and defence is very sadly a tale I hear on a regular basis at this court.”