Man jailed over £40,000 cannabis factory in Swanland Grove, north Hull
SENTENCING: Hull Crown Court.
SENTENCING: Hull Crown Court.
A MAN has been jailed for 12 months after running a £40,000 cannabis factory from his home in north Hull.
Police raided the home of Maher Al-Shirda, 46, in Swanland Grove, and discovered every upstairs room had been devoted to producing the class B drug.
During the operation, officers found 67 grams of cultivated cannabis in the fridge, cannabis plants in all three rooms upstairs and the downstairs lounge.
Plastic sheeting was spread across the walls while large, bright lights and a number of electric fans were also discovered inside the property.
The raid took place on September 11, 2012, but Al-Shirda was only sentenced at Hull Crown Court yesterday after a lengthy police investigation.
Prosecuting, Richard Thom- pson said: "Police officers carried out a warrant at Mr Al-Shirda's house in Swanland Grove.
"Immediately, the house smelt of cannabis.
"An extensive search soon revealed the production of cannabis throughout the house.
"In one upstairs room, there were 17 cannabis plants found, in another there were 45 found.
"In the lounge, 60 cuttings of cannabis were found.
"If everything had been yielded to its maximum value, the street value of the cannabis was just below £40,000."
In police interview, Al-Shirda said the production was for personal use, insisting he took the drug to ease regular back pain.
But he pleaded guilty to producing cannabis when he appeared before Hull Crown Court on March 28, last year.
In mitigation, Nigel Clive said: "The production of cannabis all started because of a back problem for Mr Al-Shirda.
"He soon realised there was money to be made in growing cannabis and that is what he did.
"This has been hanging over his head now for almost two years.
"His grasp of the English language is limited, he has recently married and no longer takes cannabis himself.
"He is now committed to building a better life with his new wife."
The court heard how Al-Shirda had no previous convictions to his name.
Passing sentence, Judge Michael Mettyear said: "This was a well planned and large-scale commercial growing of cannabis.
"It may well have started with what was said in mitigation, because of back pains, but eventually the plan was to make money for yourself and a lot of your time and effort went into this.
"But you are a man of good character and there are positive bits to your nature."
Judge Mettyear praised Al-Shirda for his early guilty plea before sentencing him to 12 months behind bars.
Judge Mettyear said he expected Al-Shirda to serve six months of his sentence.
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