A crime gang turned a quiet and unsuspecting semi-detatched home into a huge cannabis factory - with the bumper crop worth more than other houses on the street.
Officers raided a house in Highmead Avenue, Llanelli, on December 13 last year and found 25-year-old Elton Hazizi inside— along with 249 "mature, high-quality" plants worth around £232,400.
Hazizi, who is originally from Albania, told officers he had been forced to work in the cannabis farm. Police linked him to an organised crime group involved in the growth and supply of the Class B drug.
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Detective Inspector Rhys Jones said: “Every room in the property had been converted into a professional and sophisticated cannabis factory.
“Hazizi initially claimed he was forced or coerced to work in the factory. However, excellent work from our investigators and the Digital Communications and Cybercrime Unit recovered mobile phone work to the contrary."
He added: "This was an excellent, early disruption of a cannabis factory linked to subjects from the Western Balkans region that are having a major impact both locally and nationally.”
Hazizi, who pleaded guilty to producing a Class B substance, appeared on February 1 at Swansea Crown Court, where he was handed a two-year jail term.
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