Cannabis worth up to £174,720 was found in a house in a Nottinghamshire village after a witness became suspicious.
The witness saw two men going back and forth into the property at The Circle, Clipstone village, on the morning of March 30 this year.
The individuals were carrying lots of bin bags and boxes to a white van parked outside, where there was a third man at the van receiving the boxes from them.
Nottingham Crown Court heard the witness saw a heat lamp fall out of the bottom of one of the boxes and said that seemed to cause some momentary panic.
The men picked up the remains of the lamp and went back in the house. When they reemerged, they used a wheelie bin to move bags and other items to the bin.
The witness suspected the men may be dismantling a cannabis grow, so he called police.
Officers attended within five minutes, locating a Ford Transit van outside the address. The van's side door was wide open and officers could see growing equipment and fertiliser.
Steven Taylor, prosecuting, said: "The officers entered the premises through an insecure back door and they quickly noted the electricity had been bypassed and there were other telltale signs there was a cannabis grow in the premises. Effectively, most of the house had been given over to growing cannabis".
Plants were growing in a rear ground-floor room, and all three bedrooms on the first floor, together with the loft, had been converted into cannabis-growing areas.
Mr Taylor said 208 plants were recovered at various stages of growth along with the remains of a previous grow. They were valued between £33,280 and £174,720, depending on whether higher or lower yields were harvested from each of the plants.
Many of the bags carried out to the van had stalks and leaves of cannabis plants.
"It was a fairly sophisticated growing arrangement," added Mr Taylor..
Walls of the rooms were painted and lined with plastic sheeting and there was evidence of growing equipment of various types. Large ducts were installed for ventilation as well as fans and timers.
Four men were inside the property.
They were: Arben Capja, 34, of Broxtowe Drive, Mansfield; Iliir Hysa, 30, of Commercial Gate, Clipstone; Kleant Kurani, 29, Odysseas Zatsais, 28, both of no fixed address. They pleaded guilty to producing cannabis.
Capja and Kurani received 45 months each in prison. Hysa and Zatsais received three years each. Capja received a concurrent sentence of 12 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to possessing criminal property relating to £11,600 seized from his home.
Judge Mark Watson told them in the dock that none of them were resident at the address, but a group of three men had been seen to regularly visit.
"Messages had indicated that this was a joint operation," he said. "Two of you in particular had been identified as having a financial interest. But all of you worked as a collective".
He said the evidence indicated Capja and Kurani had invested financially and had a high management control of this operation.
In Hysa and Zatsais's cases, he said there was genuine proposition that they were involved in some way but their precise involvement could not be identified.
"You were, however, close enough connected to the other two and involved in some way by your messages for a sufficient time for me to conclude you occupied, at least, important roles," said Judge Watson.
He said all the defendants shared the following common features in their cases: They were all of good character, this has been their first taste of custody, and their experience of custody has been under Covid-restrictive conditions.
