A cannabis farmer caught during a police crackdown on drug factories won’t be sentenced until next month.
Armond Lika, 21, was arrested following a police raid on a property in Wingate Close, Blackbird Leys, in mid-June. Inside the property were around 80 cannabis plants.
The raid came as police forces nationwide took part in a campaign aimed at tackling the organised crime gangs responsible for growing the class B drug.
Farmer Lika pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court last month to cultivating the plants, saying that he had come to the UK illegally from Albania and been put to work in the cannabis farm.
Did you read about Operation Mille in the news today? 👀
— Thames Valley Police (@ThamesVP) July 6, 2023
ℹ️ Last month we got involved and took part in the operation which was a national campaign to disrupt cannabis cultivation. This is a key income stream for criminal gangs...
1/3 @SouthEastROCU pic.twitter.com/67EhebDYM1
He was due to be sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday (July 18). The sentencing could not go ahead as no interpreter was available to translate what was being said.
READ MORE: £4.2m worth of cannabis seized during raids by Thames Valley Police
And the judge, Recorder Joseph Hart, expressed some surprise that Lika had not been referred to the Home Office as a potential victim of modern-day slavery, given his account of being made to tend to the plants.
He adjourned the sentencing until August 8 for the preparation of a pre-sentence report by the probation service.
Recorder Hart described the offending as ‘very serious’. He added: “Whoever sentences you, and it will not be me, needs to know a little bit more about you and they need to know you can understand what is going on in court.”
Lika, of no fixed address, was remanded in custody.
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