Cannabis ‘gardener’ to be deported after jail sentence
9:27am Tuesday 15th January 2013 in News
A CANNABIS “gardener” who tended a £25,000 drug farm has been jailed for three years.
Xue Shuping, who was in the country illegally, was caught by police when he tried to escape from the drug house in Highmeadow, Radcliffe, on December 5 last year.
Bolton Crown Court heard police had been alerted to the house by suspicious neighbours, and inside they discovered 324 cannabis plants filling all three bedrooms and a dining room.
The electricity meter had been bypassed.
Shuping, aged 28, who pleaded guilty to producing cannabis at an earlier hearing, was described as a “gardener” by Michael Lea, defending.
Mr Lea said Shuping had entered the country legally but was not able to work here.
When his legal status lapsed he became isolated and needed funds, he added. “He was the gardener in this operation,” he said.
Judge Timothy Clayson said it was clear Shuping, who needed an interpreter in court, had been isolated due to his illegal status.
He said: “It seems you have no family or close friends here.
“But you have become involved in a substantial cannabis enterprise which, when the police searched the property on December 5, they found comprised 324 growing cannabis plants spread around different rooms of this house.
“I deal with you on the basis that you were the gardener responsible for the cultivation of these plants.
“Your role was a lesser role but this was a substantial operation,” he said.
He sentenced Shuping to three years in prison and ordered he be deported to China at the conclusion of the sentence.
