Jobless Birmingham man jailed for setting up cannabis factory

Dec 7 2009 by Ross McCarthy, Birmingham Mail

A JOBLESS man who rented a property in his street in Birmingham so he could turn it into a cannabis factory has been jailed for three and a half years.

Wajid Hussain, 31, had admitted charges of producing cannabis, possessing the drug and abstracting electricity.

Alistair Redford, prosecuting at Birmingham Crown Court, said when police raided Hussain’s home in Lozells Street, Lozells, in April, they found herbal cannabis, dealer bags, cannabis seeds and books on growing cannabis.

They found 109 plants growing at a nearby property rented by Hussain.

Mr Redford said the plants had a potential yield of about seven kilos with an estimated street value of between £35,000 and £55,000.

Mr Redford said Hussain had rented the property from a childhood friend who had been unaware of what had been going on and had to spend £9,000 in repairing the damage.

When interviewed, Hussain admitted he had been involved in tending the plants.

Sukhdev Bhomra, defending, said it would have been an expensive enterprise and that it was unlikely that Hussain, who was on job seeker’s allowance, would have set it up on his own.