Raid on a bodybuilder’s mansion uncovered one of Scotland’s biggest cannabis farms and more than 800 rounds of ammunition

THE 825 bullets found in Parmdeep Singh’s house were for weapons including British assault rifles, handguns and Russian Kalashnikov assault rifles and they were nearly all live.

A RAID on a bodybuilder’s mansion uncovered one of Scotland’s biggest cannabis farms and more than 800 rounds of ammunition for guns including Kalashnikov rifles.

Parmdeep Singh’s £600,000 five-bedroom house was raided by police looking for equipment stolen from a gym in Northumbria.

Instead they found the incredible ammo haul and a working drugs farm worth £1.5million annually.

Last week a sheriff ruled that Singh would have to be sent to the High Court to be jailed because his sentencing powers were not adequate.

It means he is facing a sentence in excess of five years in jail.

The 825 bullets found in Singh’s house were for weapons including British assault rifles, handguns and Russian Kalashnikov assault rifles and they were nearly all live.

The cannabis factory was in a purpose-built windowless outhouse in the grounds of Singh’s home in Langbank, Renfrewshire, and could produce more than £350,000 worth of the drug every 12 weeks.

Police Scotland drugs expert Detective Constable Greig Baxter said the hash farm was one of the most sophisticated he had ever seen.

Singh had 710 plants crammed into the outhouse, which were at different stages of growth.

DC Baxter said: “This person has a large degree of knowledge and expertise surrounding how to grow cannabis. The outhouse was windowless and had two sets of double doors at the side for Singh to gain entry and keep the heat in.

“This building is perfect to grow cannabis in.”

Singh admitted he wired up the

electricity supply to the outhouse and thought if he grew cannabis it would help him with money problems.

He told the court: “Nothing seemed to be going right and I thought this might be a way to get out of it.”

Singh claimed he had discovered the shotgun, which was found in his room, while out jogging one night.

A source close to the police investigation said yesterday: “The amount of ammunition Singh was caught with beggars belief.

“He had over 800 sitting in his house in a quiet corner of Langbank, which is a small village. That’s enough bullets for a platoon of soldiers. The big unanswered question is why?”

Singh spent £30,000 on equipment to grow the drug. He had an elaborate fan system put in place which helped to mask the pungent smell of his crop to visitors. The outhouse was also
fitted with special green lights to enable him to look after the plants – when they needed to be kept in the dark – without damaging them.

Singh’s lawyer David Watt said: “He is a practising Sikh, his religion is very important to him and such criminal activity is abhorrent to him personally and his religion and his family.

“He accepts these are very, very serious offences and he knows full well a custodial sentence, a substantial custodial sentence, is inevitable.”

Watt told Paisley Sheriff Court that Singh – who also runs a newsagents in Paisley – is the first Sikh to be sent to Low Moss Prison in Bishopbriggs, where he is being held.

Sheriff David Pender said: “You’ve entered the criminal justice system in a very major way. In my view, my sentencing powers are not sufficient to enable me to deal with your case. Therefore, I’m going to remit it to the High Court of Justiciary.”

Singh’s criminal operation only came to light by chance during a separate police probe into the theft of gym equipment from a health club in Morpeth in the north of England.

Singh, nicknamed Pomy, was thought to have moved and stored the equipment at his home.

A joint raid on the house was carried out by the then Strathclyde Police and English officers in June 2012. They found Singh’s cannabis farm, a
shotgun hidden under a sheet in his bedroom cupboard and 825 bullets hidden around the property.

After his arrest, Singh denied the charges for more than two years until he went on trial at Paisley Sheriff Court last month. He initially blamed a cousin now living in India.

But he pled guilty after a jury heard a recording of an interview with detectives where he admitted the drugs, gun and ammo stashes were his.

It is expected that Singh will be sentenced at the High Court early next year.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/crime/raid-bodybuilders-mansion-uncovered-one-4908813 02/01/2015