THREE men caught working at one of Bolton's biggest ever cannabis farms have been given suspended prison sentences.

Bolton Crown Court heard how almost 2,800 plants were found being grown in two units at Grecian Mill, Great Lever, when police raided it on May 12.

Mhamood Safazi, Mohammmed Tork and Mariusz Zielenski were living at the unit in squalid conditions, the court heard.

They were arrested and spent six months in prison awaiting sentence after pleading guilty to producing cannabis.

Wayne Jackson, prosecuting, told Judge Timothy Stead how the potential value of one crop alone from the plants was almost £600,000.

Almost a kilo of skunk cannabis, worth £8,421, was also discovered drying in nets.

"This would make it an industrial quantity," said Mr Jackson.

At the time of the raid police, who had been alerted after a resident noticed a pungent smell, described it as one of the biggest and most sophisticated cannabis growing operations ever uncovered in the town.

The court heard that 48-year-old Safazi was in debt when a friend offered him some joinery work and he was taken to the mill.

In a statement Safazi claimed he did not initially know what was happening at the mill and his name was forged on a lease document for the premises.

But he accepted that he continued to work there after becoming aware of the illegal activity.

Tork, aged 56, said he had been living in Sweden for 29 years with his wife and children.

But he had got into debt after a business failed and so came to England in November last year after being offered carpentry work.

He alleged the cannabis production had already begun when he arrived, but he too was not initially aware of the purpose to which units 2 and 5 were being put.

Polish speaking Zielinski, aged 29, said he had been in Southampton at the end of April when he was recruited to carry out joinery work at the mill.

"Whoever was the brain behind this operation was using people in difficult situations, drawing them from various locations and nationalities," said Judge Stead.

The court heard that all three men, who are of no fixed addresses, had no previous convictions.

Sentencing each of the men to 20 months in prison, suspended for two years, Judge Stead freed them from custody immediately due to the time they have already spent behind bars.

He said he accepted that they had not owned any of the drugs and would not have been involved in their trade.

"You had been living there various lengths of time in circumstances which can only be described as unpleasant, if not squalid," Judge Stead told them.

"All three of you wanted to work, in the ordinary sense, for money because of your difficulties.

"I'm told each of you did not know, when you agreed to do the work, what was going on. I accept that as so."

He added that the men had been exploited by others.

"That does not completely excuse you because it seems to me that, although life would have been difficult, you could have left when you found out the truth," said the judge.

In addition to the sentence, each man was ordered to pay a total of £1,000 in costs and charges.