Four sentenced for production of cannabis after Bayton Road raid

 

On 31 August 2023 at around 2:20pm, officers from the Nuneaton and Bedworth Safer Neighbourhood Team visited the Bayton Road Industrial Estate in Exhall.

They were following a tip-off from National Grid less than two hours earlier regarding an unusually high amount of electricity use for one of the units which had been blowing fuses at the local substation.

The officers found poorly set tarmac running from an electrical distribution point towards the unit, which was giving off significant amounts of heat.

After no response from anyone inside the building and concerned that the heat could have been a fire risk, one officer found an entry through a small window on the side of the building.

Very quickly, the officer realised he was inside a large cannabis operation and radioed the other officers outside.

Investigations revealed an industrial-scale operation was in place, with an intricate ducting and venting system with filters and scrubbers installed throughout the building.

The layout had been modified with stud walls to accommodate various growing rooms, irrigation pipes, and high wattage grow lights.

Around 1,046 six-week-old cannabis plants were discovered, with an estimated street value when cropped of £889,623.  

Evidence of another 407 harvested plants was also discovered on the property.

Meanwhile, outside the building, another officer heard loud banging on a rear fire exit door.

He moved closer to investigate, before the door burst open revealing two men who then attempted to escape.

After a short struggle, the officer caught one of them – 31-year-old Haxhi Malaj of no fixed abode, later sentenced to 28 months in prison for being concerned in the production of cannabis.

Malaj said he arrived in the UK around 18 months prior in the back of a lorry and had spent the last month watering the plants at the grow to pay off his £3-4,000 debt for travel.

The second male jumped over a high metal security fence into the neighbouring compound – as if escaping from a ball at midnight, he lost one of his pink slides in his escape, as well as ripping his trousers.

He was caught and arrested nearby soon afterwards, and identified as Donald Ponari (22, of no fixed abode) – Ponari was spotted getting into a white BMW near the industrial estate and had been dropped off at another location where he was identified through his absence of shoes and ripped trousers.

Ponari said he arrived in the UK by boat in November 2022, having paid near £3-5,000 in borrowed cash. After a meeting in a pub, he claims to have been bundled into the back of a van and driven to the grow, where he worked as a gardener.

He said he did not leave the grow due to threats, but the owners did come by with food and water regularly.  

The BMW with its driver was later found by a PCSO outside a supermarket on Coventry Road in Exhall, and the driver (also sporting ripped trousers) was arrested and identified as 28-year-old Adrian Lila, of Priory Place in Coventry.

Lila’s car was registered to an address on Cherry Close in Coventry, and a section 18 search authority was quickly granted for the address.

The semi-detached house bristled with security cameras, and all the windows were blacked out.

An open rear window was spotted, and as attending officers entered the back garden, they spotted a resident attempting to flee by the back door, before running back into the address.

He was arrested and identified as Nimert Hoxhaj, 26 of Cherry Close in Coventry, as it became quickly obvious that the house had also been converted into a cannabis grow with another 41 plants – 25 upstairs, 26 downstairs – measuring at about a foot tall.

The electricity had been bypassed here too, and a container sat in the bath feeding nutrients and water to the plants.

Lila claimed to know nothing about the grow at Bayton Road, saying only that he had been asked to deliver a jacket to a friend of a friend who was working there.

When he arrived, a man reportedly emerged from a bin, before getting into the car. Lila claimed he asked him to leave, and then went to the supermarket where he was stopped by police.

He did admit to purchasing equipment for growing cannabis at Cherry Close but said that he later decided against setting up a grow.

Hoxhaj said he arrived in the UK by lorry for the cost of £10,000 around 10 months previously. He had worked at the Cherry Close grow for two months and had not ever really met Lila in person – only exchanged messages with him and on occasion seen him outside the house.

Fearing repercussions, Hoxhaj was also unwilling to talk about the real operators of the grow.

Hoxhaj, Lila, Ponari, and Malaj were in Warwick Crown Court on 15 January 2024 for sentencing.

Haxhi Malaj and Donald Ponari both received 28 months for being concerned in the production of cannabis at Bayton Road Industrial Estate.

For being concerned in the production of cannabis at Cherry Close, Nimert Hoxhaj received 16 months in prison.

Adrian Lila was sentenced to 16 months for being concerned in the production of cannabis at Cherry Close.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Blaney said “The production of cannabis at Bayton Road was at an industrial scale, with a highly sophisticated setup.

“There were very clear ties to funding from organised criminal gangs, and elements of modern slavery are apparent throughout the day-to-day operation of both grows.

“This is the real price of cannabis – it costs a bit of money for the bag with a surcharge of misery for those affected by the gangs behind it.”