TWO MEN JAILED OVER UNDERGROUND WARWICKSHIRE CANNABIS FARM

Gjergivatal Pjeter, of Birmingham, and Eldoh Sylaj, of Maidstone in Kent, received 22-month prison sentences at Warwick Crown Court on 26 October. Both admitted producing cannabis after police found a cultivation site beneath a shipping container near Wolston, Warwickshire. Officers reached the underground chambers through a hatch cut into the container’s base. They found cannabis plants growing below the rural site. A Rugby police spokesperson said: “Our officers discovered a cannabis grow worth an estimated £500,000.”

Police raided the site on 19 August and detained five people. Only Pjeter and Sylaj faced charges following the discovery. Body camera footage showed officers finding the plants inside the underground chambers. Rugby police compared the concealed entrance with a cannabis operation depicted in Guy Ritchie’s 2019 film The Gentlemen. In the film, criminal groups grow cannabis beneath the properties of aristocratic estate owners.

Warwick Crown Court also ordered Pjeter and Sylaj to pay a victim surcharge of £187 each. The court directed authorities to destroy the cannabis. Police described the shipping container at the surface as inconspicuous and said they discovered the grow while carrying out a warrant. The film comparison referred to the underground layout and the concealed entrance; police gave no further details about how long the site had operated.