Police warn landlords after cannabis factory found in Swansea rental home

Officers were called to the address this week and found the remnants of a large-scale growing operation hidden inside the home. The property had been rented out for six months, during which time the landlord made no visits and held no written tenancy agreement.

Police say the landlord was first approached by a man he did not know, who offered cash and a down‑payment to secure the property. All further contact was made by text message. No identification, references or paperwork were taken before the keys were handed over.

The landlord told officers he had concerns during the tenancy but did not report them to local PCSOs or police before discovering the damage.

PC Scott Pearson, South Wales Police, said illegal activity had gone unnoticed because basic checks were not carried out.

“Due to not properly checking and vetting the new tenants along with missed opportunities to follow up via regular visits, it is clear that the illegal activity was not known about or recognised,” he said.

He warned that the consequences were now severe.

“As the above was not acted upon, the landlord now faces significant costs running into the tens of thousands of pounds for remedial work and unpaid utility bills.”

Pearson said rental legislation exists to protect both landlords and tenants, and failing to follow it can leave property owners exposed to serious financial loss.

He urged anyone with concerns about suspicious activity in a rented home to contact police or Crimestoppers.

“If you have any concerns of illegal activity in one of your properties or at a property near you, please share these concerns with the police or Crimestoppers,” he said.

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Elian Thana, 29, an Albanian national who arrived in the UK on a rubber boat and later had his asylum claim refused, told the court he became involved in organised crime to repay debts linked to his journey.

Police pulled over a Volkswagen van on the eastbound M4 near Swansea on December 20 last year after noticing it appeared overloaded. Inside, officers found soil, lights, fertiliser, irrigation kit and other equipment commonly used to grow cannabis.

Thana, who was travelling as a passenger, claimed he was delivering the items to a house in Swansea but couldn’t give officers an address.

When police examined two mobile phones seized from him, they found photographs and videos showing Thana inside two cannabis factories — one in Lady Street, Kidwelly, and another in Birmingham.

A raid on the Kidwelly property uncovered nine rooms packed with 201 cannabis plants. Prosecutors told Cardiff Crown Court the potential yield was between 6kg and 17kg, with a street value of £24,000 to £88,400.

A second search at the Birmingham site uncovered 147 plants across three rooms, worth up to £62,400.

Thana, of Redford Crescent, Bristol, later admitted cannabis production. The court heard he already had a previous conviction for the same offence.

In interview, he gave conflicting accounts about owing money, at one point claiming his family in Albania had a £10,000 medical debt, before later saying he owed nothing.

Judge Paul Hobson jailed him for three years. The Home Office will now decide whether he should be deported after serving his sentence.

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Carmarthenshire cannabis clan ordered to pay back £1m

Edward and Linda McCann, aged 65 and 63, along with their son Daniel, 40, were hauled before Swansea Crown Court for a Proceeds of Crime hearing — and ordered to hand over £1,091,330.61 in cash, property and luxury assets.

The trio ran a sophisticated cannabis factory in Blaenllain, near Whitland, hidden inside a barn rigged with grow rooms, industrial ovens, oil extraction gear and drying racks. Police raided the site in October 2020, uncovering 202 plants, 80kg of product, and £10,000 in cash — plus a cannabis-infused chocolate bar on the kitchen table.

“They thought they could hide in the countryside — they were wrong”

Detective Chief Inspector Rhys Jones said:

“The McCann family picked out this property thinking they could come to a rural, secluded spot and go unnoticed. They were mistaken.”

He called the raid “one of the biggest single warrants the force has carried out to date,” and praised officers for gathering intelligence from even the most remote communities.

All three were jailed for conspiracy to produce and supply cannabis, with sentences ranging from six years and seven months to eight years and six months.

Now, thanks to a financial probe, the family must also surrender assets including two properties, a Mercedes, Porsche, Harley Davidson and jewellery.

Detective Sergeant Owen Lock said:

“We’ve taken their prison sentences one step further — making sure they pay back the profits and hand over the assets. You cannot profit from crime.”

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Neath cops bust secret cannabis factory in abandoned M&S

Officers swooped on the former Marks & Spencer store on Green Street, which has stood empty since May, after locals tipped off the Neighbourhood Policing Team about suspicious goings-on behind the boarded-up windows.

A 34-year-old man was spotted acting shiftily near the site and was arrested on the spot for burglary. But what came next stunned even seasoned officers.

Inside the cavernous building, cops uncovered a sprawling network of commercial rooms rigged for industrial-scale cannabis cultivation — complete with ducting, filtration units, and enough power cabling to light up half the town. No drugs were found, but police say the setup was “days away” from going live.

The suspect was further arrested on suspicion of being involved in the production of cannabis and remains in custody.

“Could’ve been South Wales’ biggest ever grow”

Inspector Ryan Davies said the bust was “a textbook example of community intelligence and rapid police action,” adding:

“This could’ve become the largest cannabis factory South Wales has ever seen — worth millions in criminality and exploiting vulnerable people to take the risk while others reap the rewards.”

He praised residents for their support during the high-profile raid, which unfolded in broad daylight in the heart of Neath’s shopping district.

“We acted fast, and we shut it down before it started. That’s a win for the town.”

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Police uncover 300 cannabis plants in former Maesteg bank

The building, which closed as a bank in May 2017, was entered by officers following intelligence from the local community about suspicious activity at the property. When police searched the premises, they found the large-scale cannabis grow but no individuals were present at the time.

Police remain at the scene this afternoon, securing the premises and continuing their investigation.

Community intelligence leads to action

A spokesperson for South Wales Police Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil and Bridgend said the discovery highlighted the importance of community information. They added: “Community tips can lead to positive action such as this, so please get in touch if you have concerns.”

Part of wider crackdown on cannabis factories

The raid is the latest in a series of operations targeting cannabis production across the Maesteg and wider South Wales area.

In recent months, officers have seized cannabis with a potential street value of more than £250,000 in a series of raids in the Llynfi Valley, many of which have been linked to organised criminal groups. Police have warned that cannabis factories are often connected to wider criminality, including people trafficking and violence used to protect the sites.

Ongoing investigation

No arrests have yet been confirmed in connection with the Talbot Street discovery. Officers are urging anyone with information about drug production in their community to report it via the South Wales Police website or by calling 101.

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Calif. cannabis farm breaks silence weeks after deadly ICE raid – SFGate

CANNABIS

Calif. cannabis farm breaks silence weeks after deadly ICE raid

By Lester Black, Cannabis editor, Aug 4, 2025

Glass House Brands released its first public comment Monday since the California company faced a violent raid from federal authorities last month that left one man dead and hundreds arrested. 

On July 10, federal agents searched two of the company’s Southern California cultivation facilities — one in Ventura County and one in Santa Barbara County — in an operation that quickly descended into chaos. Officers fired tear gas inside the facilities and searched for immigrants as hundreds of protesters gathered outside to protest the Donald Trump administration’s action. One worker fell from a green house and later died, marking the first known death in Trump’s immigration crackdown. 

Following the raid, the Department of Homeland Security announced it had arrested at least 361 people suspected of being in the country illegally, as well as 14 “migrant children,” although the agency hasn’t shared any court documentation behind those figures. 

Glass House, one of California’s largest legal cannabis companies, had not issued any public comment in the weeks following the raid other than a post to X on July 11 confirming it was being raided. 

On Monday, the company broke its silence with a news release that outlined details of the operation, including that nine company employees were detained or arrested. The company said any other people arrested would have been employed by farm labor companies that provide employees for the farm, which is a common practice at agricultural facilities.

Glass House said that it has not been able to determine the identities of the alleged minors but said that if minors were at the facility “none of them were Glass House employees.”

There has been widespread fear in the cannabis industry that federal agents could have been conducting a much broader operation investigating the cultivation of marijuana itself, which is still federally illegal and could lead to federal criminal charges against the company and its staff. Video apparently taken during the raid and posted to social media showed a federal agent saying, “This is not an immigration raid.”

Monday’s news release countered that narrative, saying the raid was led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and that the search warrant was authorized specifically for “evidence of possible immigration violations.” Glass House said that “very few documents were seized pursuant to the search warrant.”

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Calif. cannabis farm breaks silence weeks after deadly ICE raid

#2025 #America #California #CannabisFarm #DonaldTrump #Health #History #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #Politics #Resistance #Science #SFGate #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Man jailed after cannabis plants starting growing through wall of house into next door

26-year-old Tu Ba Dien has been jailed after he pleaded guilty to producing Class B drugs.

Police were alerted to the Sandfields property after cannabis plants were found to have started growing through a wall into a neighbouring address.

Officers found that all three bedrooms, as well as the attic, were being used to grow cannabis.

Tu Ba Dien was sentenced to 12 months in prison.

Sergeant Carys Pudner from South Wales Police said: “Tu Ba Dien was the only person found at the address during the drugs warrant, but as is always the case, he is just one of many people involved in the network enacting this illegal trade.

“It hasn’t paid off for him – he will lose the next year to a prison term.”

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Cannabis farm discovered at disused Llanelli town centre shop

Pllumb Krosi, aged 34, was arrested on Wednesday 30 April after officers from Carmarthenshire’s Priority Policing Team forced entry into a property on Vaughan Street, Llanelli to execute a pre-planned drugs warrant.

Upon entering via the back of the building, officers were faced with a large-scale cannabis farm spanning three floors, with sophisticated modifications to control the building’s temperature, lighting, ventilation, and electricity.

Krosi was found by officers in what was described as the “living quarters” of the cannabis farm before he was swiftly arrested and taken into custody. He was charged and remanded later that day.

Approximately £326,000 worth of cannabis plants were seized during the search, along with keys to a padlock fixed to a metal bar which had been set up to prevent anyone forcing entry to the building.

Appearing at Llanelli Magistrates court the very next day (1 May), Pllumb Krosi pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis and was remanded into custody until his sentencing at Swansea Crown Court on Thursday, 29 May 2025.

Detective Sergeant Richard Saunders from Dyfed Powys Police said: “This is just one of many warrants carried out as part of Operation Scotney as we seek to disrupt the production of cannabis by organised crime gangs in our force area.

“I want to urge the public to remain vigilant to the signs of cannabis grows in their local area and to continue to report any concerns to police. This case shows our commitment to ensuring our force area remains hostile to those who deal drugs.”

#Cannabis #CannabisFarm #drugs #DyfedPowysPolice #Llanelli

Roof-jumping Trebanos cannabis growers jailed

Ergys and Dorjan Dautaj, both 24, appeared at Swansea Crown Court on Monday, April 28, after pleading guilty to cannabis production.

They were both inside a house on Swansea Road in Trebanos when tactical search teams forced entry on February 13.

The two men smashed their way up through the roof of the house and risked their lives by jumping onto a neighbouring roof as they tried to get away, but moments later they surrendered themselves to officers who had surrounded the house.

Cannabis plants in varying stages of growth were discovered growing throughout the house which had been dangerously modified to grow the drug.

Osman Sallaku, 21, was arrested at a nearby address on the same day during what was a co-ordinated police warrant, and he appeared to be sentenced alongside them.

Ergys Dautaj was jailed for two years. Dorjan Dautaj and Osman Sallaku were both jailed for 12 months.

South Wales Police say Dautaj and Sallaku were among 12 people arrested during Operation Millie which took place throughout in February, 2024. Warrants were executed across south Wales, including in Swansea, Cardiff and the South Wales valleys, during what was the third phase of a national effort to disrupt organised crime groups, involving forces across Wales and England.

#Cannabis #CannabisFarm #drugs #SouthWalesPolice #Trebanos

Two Albanian illegal immigrants jailed for cannabis farm at empty Ystalyfera homes

24-year-old Drenit Matmuja and 20-year-old Jonis Krasniqi were found at neighbouring properties on Cyfyng Road, Ystalyfera after a police raid on 21 February.

The basements in both properties were being used to grow a significant number of cannabis plants.

Police discovered 83 cannabis plants in the growing stage and another 22 in the nursery stage at one property and a further 66 cannabis plants at the adjoining property accessed through a hole in the basement wall.

Both grow rooms were kitted out with fans, timers, and lights, and had plastic sheets lining the walls and floor.

At the time of his arrest, Krasniqi had been in the country for five years and his asylum application had been rejected.

Swansea Crown Court heard that immigration services “were not aware” Matmuja was in the country until his arrest.

Matmuja was jailed for 10 months and Krasniqi was sentenced to 10 months in a Young Offender Institution.

Following their earlier guilty pleas, Judge Huw Rees said the pair would serve half of their sentences in custody, before being detained by the Home Office and deported.

Sergeant Matthew Jones from South Wales Police said: “It is clear that these two men were conducting their drugs operation in what they thought was a quiet road where they would not arouse suspicion.

“However, they were wrong to think that their illegal activities would not be discovered.

“We hope that both of them spend their time in prison considering their actions and change their ways upon release.”

(Lead image: South Wales Police)

#Albania #Cannabis #CannabisFarm #IllegalImmigrants #SouthWalesPolice #Ystalyfera