Sevenoaks shed used for 120-plant cannabis factory
A SEVENOAKS shed was used to grow cannabis worth roughly £36,000, a court has heard.
Asgiran Mustafa, a 47-year-old, pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court on February 1 to being concerned in the production of cannabis.
He was sentenced to three years in jail on February 7 by Judge Carey.
The court heard how on May 24 last year, police carried out a search warrant at Morleys Farm, Morley Road and, after searching sublet sheds, two rooms containing about 120 cannabis plants were discovered.
Mustafa, who rented out the unit, was arrested shortly after and admitted in a police interview that he knew the rooms he was subletting were being used for cannabis production.
His fingerprints were later found on one of the pots used to grow the plants.
DC Graham Hunt of Kent Police said: "I hope this case serves as a stark warning that by simply knowing about drug production and not informing authorities about it can have serious consequences.
"By allowing the premises to be used for illegal drug cultivation, and not challenging this, Mustafa was as accountable as those who were growing it.
"All of the drugs seized were destroyed after a forfeiture and destruction order."
2 Comments
by PoetPeter
Thursday, February 16 2012, 12:29PM
“Why don't we try taking a completely new approach to cannabis? Around three million people in Britain are regular users and whatever we do we're not going to be able to stop them.
We waste billions every year on police, court and prison resources when a large proportion of society uses cannabis without any problem at all. In fact, the only real problem with cannabis is that it's illegal.
The risks to health are very small - much, much less than alcohol or tobacco. By a recent analysis of mortality, hospital admissions, toxicity and propensity to psychosis, cannabis is nearly 3000 times safer than alcohol. Why not introduce a tax and regulate system and realise the benefits?
That way we'd have a properly regulated supply chain with no criminals involved, no theft of electricity, no human trafficking, no destruction of property and disruption of neighbourhoods. Then there would be some control over this huge market. There would be thousands of new jobs, sales would be from licensed outlets to adults only with guaranteed quality and safety. Then our police could start going after some real wrongdoing instead of trying to fight a crime that exists only because of a misguided government policy.
Also, very importantly, science now proves that cannabis is one of the safest and most effective medicines for a wide range of conditions. While the government promotes the lie that "there is no medicinal value in cannabis", it has granted an unlawful monopoly to GW Pharmaceuticals to grow 20 tonnes a year for, you guessed it, medicine!
Cannabis Law Reform (CLEAR) published independent research on 14th September 2011 that shows a cannabis tax and regulate regime would provide a net gain to the UK exchequer of £6.7 billion per annum as well as reducing all health and social harms.
The only thing that keeps the present absurd status quo in place is weak politicians corrupted by Big Booze and the GW Pharma monopoly.
Go to the CLEAR website for full details: http://tinyurl.com/6l4pb2m”
by CyberDan
Friday, February 10 2012, 6:43PM
“Instead of producing cannabis in clandestine and often very unhealthy conditions, as is encouraged by prohibition, we need to be moving towards a more honest and open system of regulation. People will look back on this era of Cannabis prohibition much as we now look back and see how stupid alcohol prohibition was. This is all so damaging to society and every day the damage gets worse and harder to recover from. Can you imagine the power that the likes of Al Capone would now wield if the alcohol prohibition had been allowed to continue for nearly 100 years? They would have enough legislators in their pockets so that they could influence governments and ensure that alcohol prohibition continued. Now that is exactly the position the "drug barons" are in today. For this reason I believe that legalisation of Cannabis is the most urgent issue on this planet today.
What we need, instead of a blanket prohibition of Cannabis, is a proper legally regulated supply that will benefit the U.K. economy through huge tax revenues and free up the resources of the police and courts to deal with real crimes. Most of all a properly regulated supply will protect young people, as it is in the area of Age Limits that prohibition has proven such a huge failure. In countries where there is provision for the legal supply of Cannabis to adults the use of Cannabis, and indeed other substances as well, is greatly reduced amongst youngsters. This is because the licensed suppliers know full well that if they are caught supplying to minors they stand to lose their licence, so they just don't do it. Whereas in good old Blighty we have to soldier on with prohibition giving the whole market straight into the hands of dealers who simply want to see your money, they will sell Cannabis to anyone of any age. And that's not all! A few unscrupulous dealers will sometimes say "Oh sorry, I couldn't get any weed this week, this other stuff is all they had, why don't you try some?" and then proceed to offer Heroin.
So, legalise, regulate and tax the supply of Cannabis for a Britain that is happier, less violent and more affluent."”