Police acted after several reports were received from members of the public over the pungent smell of cannabis in a town centre street in Consett.
A team of neighbourhood officers forced entry to a shuttered three-storey building in the town centre on Friday, December 6.
Two men present in the building were arrested and officers removed 492 cannabis plants plus a large amount of growing equipment.
(Image: Durham Constabulary) The arrested pair, Albanian nationals Auerti Grifsha and Besmi Gjoni, appeared before magistrates the following day and admitted a charge of producing a controlled drug of class B.
Both were sent for sentence to Durham Crown Court, where they were assisted by an Albanian interpreter.
They appeared via video link from prisons, respectively in Durham and Doncaster, where they have been detained on remand since their arrest.
Dan Wilberforce, prosecuting, said as there were nearly 500 plants involved in the grow, the starting point for sentence in such cases is three years with a range of between two to six years.
(Image: Durham Constabulary) The court heard Gjoni’s counsel, Jennifer Coxon, had been unable to have a conference with his client about the offending.
Recorder Dafydd Enoch KC said he knew nothing about the background of the defendants and wanted further information prior to the pair being sentenced.
(Image: Durham Constabulary) “I’ll order pre-sentence reports to be produced by the Probation Service for both of these defendants,” he said.
“They have both already spent four weeks in custody and by delaying sentence for a few weeks it won’t make a great difference as they will both be receiving fairly substantial sentences.”
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Recorder Enoch said he would pass sentence in five weeks, but added that it would be an “inevitable custodial sentence” in both cases.
Grifsha, 31, and 32-year-old Gjoni were remanded to remain in custody pending the sentencing date at the court, on February 14.
The Recorder said he wanted both defendant and an Albanian interpreter present in court for that sentencing hearing.