'Sophisticated' Chapeltown cannabis factory of 300 plants discovered by police after call out to drunken neighbour row

By Nick Frame
Published 29th Dec 2022, 11:45 BST
Updated 29th Dec 2022, 11:56 BST
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Hundreds of cannabis plants were discovered across two neighbouring Leeds properties after a police were called to a drunken incident.

Officers were called to Hares Terrace in Chapeltown on December 5 to find Ramazin Joka in the street, intoxicated and shouting “in a foreign language”.

When he told them where he lived, they noticed damage to the front door and parts of the internal walls had been removed. Searching the property, they found two upstairs bedroom filled with around 100 mature cannabis plants. They also found a ladder to the attic which had access to the neighbouring roof space, where another 200 plants were found. Nobody else was found in the two properties.

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Ramazin was taken to Elland Road Police Station where he admitted he lived there, but the plants were not his, said he did not put them there and was only there to water them. He smelt strongly of cannabis and officers noticed he had dirt on his hands.

The properties on Hares Terrace were being used as a cannabis-growing factory. (Google Maps)The properties on Hares Terrace were being used as a cannabis-growing factory. (Google Maps)
The properties on Hares Terrace were being used as a cannabis-growing factory. (Google Maps)

The 51-year-old admitted producing cannabis during a hearing at Leeds Crown Court this week. He appeared via video link from HMP Leeds. Mitigating, Edward Steele, said Joka was brought to the UK illegally and added: “He has, essentially, been exploited for his use in these offences. He performed a very limited function, and his involvement was through naivety or exploitation.”

The court was told he had no previous convictions in the UK, but had been jailed for cannabis production in Greece in the 1990s.

Judge Ray Singh dismissed the idea that Joka was not playing a significant role, and knew the scale of the operation. He said: “I take into account your genuine remorse but I’m afraid you got yourself into serious criminality. You did play a significant role in this production. You decided to enter this country as an illegal immigrant. There was no attempt by you to contact the Home Office to seek asylum. You kept yourself under the radar and got yourself involved in a significant production of cannabis. It was a sophisticated set up and there was a financial motivation or advantage to you.”

He jailed Joka for 32 months.