Rugby cannabis farmer receives 34 months in prison

Emanuel Ago, 24 of no fixed abode, has been sentenced to 34 months in prison for operating a cannabis farm in Rugby and for breaching a deportation order made in June of last year.

He is also required to pay a surcharge of £228 towards victim services.

Officers from Rugby’s Proactive CID team came across the cannabis farm on Moyeady Avenue in Rugby during a morning walk on 17 July.

Scoping out the property from the outside, the officers formed the belief that there was very likely cannabis being grown inside.

When they knocked on the door to see if anyone was home, tiles on the roof of the house moved as if bumped from inside, making it clear that there was someone inside the property.

After forcing entry it was immediately obvious that the three-to-four-bedroom bungalow had been converted into a space for growing cannabis.

Ninety-nine cannabis plants in total were discovered growing in the property, using a professional set up of high-voltage grow lights with reflectors, sophisticated ventilation systems with carbon filters and extraction ducting, and large containers or liquid plant feeds.

Many of the plants were only a few weeks away from flowering and being ready for harvest.

The electric supply had also been bypassed, with an engineer having to attend the property to make it safe again.  

In a walk-in cupboard, 109 cannabis cuttings were found growing under an additional lamp.

Expert witnesses placed the total value of the grow between £31,500 and £39,500.

Ago himself was discovered trying to keep his cool underneath insulation in the loft and arrested shortly afterwards.

He had previously been arrested under the same circumstances operating another cannabis grow 18 months prior and deported to his home country.

DC Rapkins of Rugby Proactive CID said “Ago entered the country illegally and was fully aware that he was not allowed to be in the UK.

“Farms like this create a significant amount of revenue for organised crime gangs, whose willingness to commit violence to protect their assets and to treat human lives as expendable makes them a serious threat to our society.

“Emanuel Ago’s sentence gives him 34 months to consider finally putting down the trowel and doing something less harmful and more productive with his life.”