A man has been jailed for 16 months after a £128,000 cannabis factory was uncovered in Hamilton.
More than 200 plants were found in the rented three-bedroom detached house in Brora Crescent.
Mario Eshja, 39, now of Nansen Street, Glasgow, admitted growing cannabis on February 18 this year.
Rebecca Clark, prosecuting, told Hamilton Sheriff Court that police officers arrived with a search warrant and detected a strong smell of cannabis.
Eshja, an Albanian, was living at the property.
He told the officers: “If I had a proper job I wouldn’t have got involved in something like this.”
Defence agent Ian Scott said Eshja had moved to Italy from Albania then on to Scotland.
The lawyer stated: “He perceived better opportunities in the UK.
“But he became acquainted with people who, frankly, took advantage of him.
“They turned out to be organised criminals.”
Mr Scott suggested Eshja, a first offender, could be given unpaid community work.
Sheriff Ray Small disagreed, telling the accused: “Anyone coming to Scotland who becomes involved in the supply chain, or production, of controlled drugs will be dealt with seriously by the courts.
“You might not have known when you first arrived what work you were to do, but it must have become obvious soon that you had been put in control of a cannabis factory.”
He said Eshja would have been jailed for two years but for his guilty plea.
