A man who was trafficked into Britain and put to work tending a cannabis factory has been jailed after police uncovered the operation in a flat overlooking Llanelli’s North Dock.
Mateo Allmunca, 24, was sentenced to two years after Dyfed-Powys Police found 89 cannabis plants spread across three rooms of the property.
Officers executed a warrant at the flat on 25 March, where they were met by the overwhelming smell of cannabis.
Inside, they found the plants alongside lighting, ventilation and other growing equipment. The electricity meter had been bypassed, and the crop was valued at up to £82,000.
Allmunca was not at the flat during the raid, but he was later identified after officers found a key to the property in his pocket and neighbours recognised him as the man who regularly came and went from the address.
When he was stopped, he claimed he was only in the area to “visit the beach.”
After his arrest, he admitted he had been working as a gardener for the criminal gang that had smuggled him into the country.
He told officers he owed the group £20,000 for arranging his journey from Albania, and had been repaying the debt at £3,000 a month by tending the plants.
He said threats had been made against him and his family, and that he had been moved from Birmingham to Llanelli shortly before the raid.
The court heard Allmunca had no previous convictions in the UK and had left Albania out of desperation, having earned as little as 200 euros a month before being recruited into the operation.
His barrister said he had “little or no influence” over the wider enterprise.
Recorder Mark Powell KC said Allmunca had entered the UK as an economic migrant and had been exploited by the same gang that brought him here.
Giving credit for his guilty plea, the judge imposed a 24-month sentence. Allmunca will serve 40 per cent of that term before being released on licence.
He was told he is likely to be deported once his sentence has been served.
