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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Cannabis Farm Gardeners Jailed for Two Years Lynda Roughley Champion Newspapers Wednesday 02 Apr 2008 Date: April 2 2008 Author: Lynda Roughley --- Two new semi-detached houses in Southport had been secretly turned into a cannabis farm, a court heard on Tuesday (April 1 2008). Brazenly the top floor of the houses had been knocked into one to accommodate the drugs business, said Mandy Nepal, prosecuting. A total of 750 plants in various stages of growth and with a total street value of up to £72,000 were discovered. Working as "gardeners" at the sophisticated hydroponic enterprise were two illegal Chinese immigrants, a man and woman, who were both arrested. Sheng Lian and Li Xiao, both of no fixed address, pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court to producing cannabis but denied conspiring together and with others to produce the drug and that charge was dropped. Jailing them both for two years Judge Nigel Gilmour, QC, said, "The photographs show this was a sophisticated greenhouse that had been created in these two houses. "You were both given responsibility to care for these plants." Recommending them for deportation Judge Gilmour said that they do not speak English and would easily be tempted into criminality again. Mandy Nepal, prosecuting, told the court that police raided the newly built houses in Liverpool Road, Birkdale on January 25 (2008). On the top floor they found high powered lighting, air filtering and a hydroponic system, fans, thermometers, a large quantity of plant food and propagators. "The rooms had been sealed and covered up with foil to preserve the heat and there was a punget sweet aroma of cannabis," she said. 51-year-old Lian was asleep but she woke during the search and was arrested. Xiao, 35, told police he had only been living there for ten days after being approached by a Chinese man who said he would look for work for him. He denied knowing Lian, however photographs by police showed the couple together the previous November. Lian told officers that she had been approached by a Chinese man who said he could help her find work. The court heard that neither of the defendants has any previous convictions and have both been served with deportation papers. Ken Grant, defending, said that Lian, who wept throughout the hearing, is a single woman who had decided to come over here to find work to finance her old age. She paid £12,500 to be brought here and was introduced to a man who escorted her to the house. She was not paid cash and just got her board and keep. Defence barrister Simon Driver said that Xiao had been vulnerable after arriving in this country and had effectively been driving into this offending. The photographs showed how humble their sleeping quarters were, he added. http://www.champnews.com/html/newsstory.asp?id=6606
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