AN ALBANIAN drug lord responsible for a cannabis empire worth £400,000 and spanning four factories in Somerset and Devon has been jailed for five years.


Altin Laska, 27, of Broadpark Farm, was given the sentenced at Exeter Crown Court after growing drugs on an ‘industrial’ scale with factories in Minehead, Exeter, Newton Abbot and Dunkeswell.


As part of Operation Cesta, police raided the factories, including on Alcombe Road in Minehead, last August and seized more than 1,500 cannabis plants thought to be worth more than £400,000.


Laska was arrested following the raids, and two of his couriers, Nicolae Pasc, aged 25, and Mircae Rusu, aged 24, both from Romania, were also arrested. 
The pair were each jailed for a year on Friday. 


Mr Joss Ticehurst, prosecuting, said surveillance and mobile phone tracking evidence showed Laska making repeated visits to the grow sites.


He said a 15-year-old Vietnamese boy who had been trafficked into Britain illegally was found minding one of the sites and Laska claimed they were all being run by a Vietnamese gang.


Mr Ticehurst said: “Laska was quite clearly connected directly to the production sites and was central to organising the distribution. The others acted under his instructions.


“He was organising the supply of cannabis on a commercial scale and that involved close and direct links to the original source. he had an influence on others in the supply chain."


Mr Stephen Mejzner, for Laska, said his client had been a successful businessman running a security firm in Exeter until a dispute with a client led to an expensive court case. 


He said Laska also ran a removals business, and another company that traded in bankrupt stock, and it was this one that he used as a cover for his drugs business, the court heard.


He said there were innocent explanations for going to the areas where the cannabis was grown. He had gone to auctions at Dunkeswell, festivals at Minehead, parties at the Exeter house, and had acted as chauffeur for a Vietnamese contact when visiting Newton Abbot.


Passing down the sentence, Judge Graham Cottle told the three men: “This case involves an organised crime group which was capable of producing industrial quantities of cannabis. 


“Laska’s role in the operation was significantly up the chain from Pasc and Rusu. 
“It is clear he played a very important part in the supply chain.”


As well as seizing the drugs, during the raids on the factory and Laska’s home, police found a number of illegal immigrants. 


Two men were found to be in one of the houses, who were both illegal immigrants, and one, Shuaip Llapri, was found in possession of a stun gun.

He was sentenced to six months in prison in October for the offence, with the other 18-year-old also deported.


Eight Vietnamese nationals were also detained as a result of the operation, two at large cannabis farms. Of the eight detainees one awaits trial, one has been sentenced to 15 months imprisonment for cultivation, one is being supported as being potentially trafficked and the others remain within the immigration assessment process.


Speaking after the case, Detective Inspector Austin Goss, from Zephyr, the South West regional organised crime unit, said: “The set-up of these farms was very sophisticated and organised and the harvesting of such large amounts of cannabis plants was frequent.


“Our operation has had a significant impact in helping to disrupt the illegal drug activity in the area. I would urge the community to continue to work with us and report issues, safe in the knowledge that we will take matters seriously.”