2 Men given 18 months for running the operation from a house which appears to have been set up by someone else.
Shkelqim Toska, 26, and Markelian Belshaku, 22, at a property on Lisvane Street, Cathays, back in March 20 when police raided the address have been prosecuted and sent to jail..
When police arrived at the property they attempted to escape but were apprehended by the officers, who then conducted a search of the house.
Their sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Tuesday heard the whole property had been converted to the produce cannabis in what was described as a “sophisticated operation”.
Apparently Toska began working in the in order to repay debts to those who helped to bring him to the UK while Belshaku had split up with his partner, was homeless and had no other way of making money.
Officers also found two quantities of dried cannabis weighing over 460 grams on site with, £540 in cash, 25 Euros and 400 Albanian lekë.
The defendants were arrested and initially denied any wrongdoing, they later pleaded guilty to cannabis production.
Both, Shkelqim Toska & Markelian Belshaku are from Albania and had travelled to the UK illegally. Belshaku had been in the country a year but Toska only arrived two months before his arrest last month.
Sentencing, Judge David Wynn Morgan said: “There is no evidence before this court to suggest you set up this cannabis factory, it’s highly unlikely that those who did set it up would be seen anywhere near it.
“These people use people such as yourselves, not just to run the operation but they do it so someone else will take the consequences when the operation is discovered.
“There’s no evidence to say you were involved in an operational or management sense, you performing a limited function under direction.”
Toska and Belshaku were sentenced to 18 months imprisonment each and were told they would likely be deported back to Albania following the conclusion of their sentences.