A dad-of-two’s dreams of finding work in the UK were left in tatters as he was jailed for gardening a Hull cannabis farm producing 35kg of weed.
Albanian national Edward Luca asked a criminal gang to smuggle him into the country so he could find cash-in-hand work and send money home to his partner and two children, aged two and seven.
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But getting into the country came with a £12,000 price tag, which the 37-year-old was told he could repay by cultivating weed at a terraced property on Blaydes Street.
Luca had only been in the UK for two months when the farm was busted by Humberside Police’s Operation Galaxy in September, in a series of raids which saw six people arrested.
Hull Crown Court heard he had tried to run away and escape over a six-foot wall when officers raided the house where he had also been living.
Luca was arrested while a search of the house found 70 cannabis plants as well as prepared weed and growing equipment.
He pleaded guilty at Hull Magistrates’ Court the next day to production of a…