Missing Quarry Bank drug farm boss jailed for six years
AN on-the-run drugs farmer has been jailed in his absence for a major cannabis growing operation in Quarry Bank.
AN on-the-run drugs farmer has been jailed in his absence for a major cannabis growing operation in Quarry Bank.
Avash Midya, aged 44, fled the UK during his trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court on two charges of being concerned in the production of drugs.
Judge Martin Walsh was told Midya left the country on a plane to Dubai and is now believed to be hiding in Thailand.
The judge said Midya played a leading role in the drug production adding: "The cream of the crop at the Quarry Bank address had been harvested before the police arrived."
Midya set up the £30,000 cannabis farm in Park Road and police swooped on the property after being alerted by neighbours who had spotted drug producing equipment being carried away.
The officers found cannabis had been grown in a large shed in the garden where they discovered six kilos of skunk leaves and stalks but the drug producing heads of the plants had already been harvested.
Midya who also established a £30,000 cannabis farm in Smethwick had been involved in renting the property and he was arrested by police along with a Rowley Regis man know to have used the address.
But Midya, of Cannon Hill Road, Edgbaston, vanished during his trial, which ended on March 9 this year when he was found guilty on both charges.
He had earlier admitted fraud in connection with the tenancies of two flats in Birmingham city centre which were secured using forged documents.
Patrick Reilly, a 27-year-old father of one, of Portway Road, Rowley Regis, had been convicted of being concerned in the production of cannabis and was jailed for two years.
David Hall, 48, of The Lindens, Harborne, Birmingham was also convicted on a similar charge and he too was sent to prison for two years.
http://www.stourbridgenews.co.uk 23/04/2012
S
Soft Secrets
