Trio facing jail after Forfar farmer ‘threatened with shotgun'

A farmer had a sawn-off shotgun pointed at his neck after a massive cannabis factory was secretly set up in a shed on his land, a court heard today.

Manny Naveed and Alan Fraser rented a building on Birkenbush Farm, near Forfar, after spotting an advert for a shed to rent in the Scottish Farmer trade paper.

Christopher Paul helped source a generator to power the "industrial and commercial" cultivation - with he, Fraser and Naveed attending on hundreds of occasions to tend the crops in the 1800 square foot factory.

The trio were warned they face years in jail after a sheriff decided his maximum five-year sentence wouldn't be enough - and sent the case to the High Court.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard that the massive cultivation could have yielded cannabis worth over £145,000 when it was harvested - which was due to happen within weeks of a police raid in January last year.

The court heard that farmers Derek Greenhill Sr and Derek Greenhill Jr had advertised a large shed for rent at their farm in July 2012. Naveed and Fraser then signed a lease at £600 per month.

A video was played in court showing the vast scale of the sophisticated cannabis factory they constructed - with a huge generator powering row upon row of reflective lights, industrial sized extractors, fans, and an irrigation system.

A trial heard that some time around Christmas 2012 Naveed went to Derek Greenhill Jr's office on the farm and accused him of breaking into their shed, which was padlocked shut.

Days later three unknown men turned up and threatened Mr Greenhill Jr.

They told him "better not be going to the police" and said "it will all be gone by mid January".

One of the men then pulled out a sawn off double-barreled shotgun and pushed it into Mr Greenhill Jr's neck as he issued the threats.

Fiscal depute Nicola Gillespie said the farm operated 24 hours a day and was weeks away from being harvested when poice raided on January 19 last year.

She said: "There were 304 plants in the main growing area.

"There were junction boxes on 24 hour timer switches which fed reflective lights.

"The illicit value of the plants is conservatively estimated as between £48,640 and £145,920."

Naveed, 32, of The Loaning, Motherwell, Fraser, 42, of O'Wood Avenue, Motherwell, and Paul, 31, of Market Pend, Monikie, Angus, pleaded guilty on indictment to charges of producing cannabis and being concerned in the supply of cannabis between June 1 2012 and January 19 2013.

Defence solicitor Gerard Devaney, for Fraser, said: "This was a commercial enterprise and that has to be conceded.

"He was involved in tending the plants."

And Michael Gallagher, for Naveed, added: "My position is that he was a gardener in this operation."

Nick Markowski, representing Paul, said: "He's generally a hard working family man but has got involved in this."

Sheriff Alistair Brown remanded all three men in custody and remitted the case to the High Court for sentence.

He said: "The question is whether my powers of sentence are sufficient to deal with this or if I have to remit to the High Court.

"There was a lease signed here and Mr Naveed was involved in that.

"Evidence has been led about the presentation of a shotgun at Mr Greenhill Jr.

"That tells me something about the nature of the operation that they were part of.

"I'm satisfied that for Mr Naveed his position is not adequately described as being at the lowest, base level as just a gardener.

"It follows that the starting point for him would be sufficiently in excess of my powers that I can't appropriately deal with them.

"Accordingly all three will be remitted to the High Court for sentence."

http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk 15/04/2014