A pair of drug dealers who converted a 15-bedroom stately home in Broughty Ferry into a gigantic cannabis cultivation are facing deportation back to Albania.
Flogerd Baqli, 26, and Ronald Licci, 22, were brought from HMP Perth to be told they would be jailed for 20 months.
The pair of first offenders were chased by police from a £649,000 cannabis farm set up throughout the derelict Dundee mansion.
Under the Home Office’s immigration rules, now they have been convicted of a criminal offence for which they have received a custodial sentence of at least a year, they can be deported.
Their sentences were backdated to January 31, when they were first remanded.
The men become the third and fourth cannabis growers this month to find out at Dundee Sheriff Court they are facing deportation back to Albania.
Noter Medulaj, 21, and Murat Aruci, 32, received sentences with the same consequences at a hearing one week earlier.
Trafficking lies
Previously, both men admitted producing cannabis at 42 Victoria Road, Broughty Ferry, on 30 January this year.
The court was told 649 cannabis plants were found inside the listed mansion – estimated to be worth £1.4 million – when it was raided by police.
Baqli – who arrived in England on a small boat from France – tried to flee but he was caught after a police chase and arrested close to the property.
He lied he was a victim of human trafficking when he was actually part of an organised crime gang overseeing a huge drug cultivation.
Fiscal depute Lynn Mannion previously told the court: “He is an Albanian national and is unemployed. He has no known address in the United Kingdom.
“In June 2022, the accused was transported from France on a small boat, landing on the south coast of England, where he claimed asylum.
“He advised he was a victim of human trafficking and this was investigated by the authorities. He offered to plead guilty in June 2023 but that could not be accepted until the human trafficking had been fully investigated.
“A conclusive grounds decision that the accused was not a victim of human trafficking was intimated to the Crown on 17 October 2023.”
Chased from property
The prosecutor continued: “The offence took place at 42 Victoria Road.
“This is a substantial Victorian mansion with a private driveway.
“The house appeared to be in a state of renovation.
“Police received intelligence regarding a suspected cultivation of cannabis.
“A search warrant was granted. At 9 am on January 30 entry was forced through the primary door.
“The two accused were seen and they ran out of a rear exit but were chased and apprehended.
“The property had been converted into a substantial cannabis cultivation.
“There were 14 different rooms – all containing a quantity of plants in two stages of growth and with sophisticated equipment.”
She told the court both downstairs and upstairs were divided into two distinct areas, split between fully grown plants and partially grown plants at seedling stage.
Ms Mannion said the officers recovered 316 fully grown plants, along with a further 332 plants at an earlier stage of growth.
She said the potential yield of the crop was £649,000.
‘Sophisticated cultivation site’
At the earlier hearing, Sheriff Timothy Niven-Smith said: “The narrative sets out a substantial and sophisticated cultivation site.
“It would seem likely this accused was a conduit for far more serious criminals who go about their business in an organised manner.
“The accused must be under no illusion, that despite being a conduit for others, the cultivation of a substantial quantity of cannabis could not have been achieved.”
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