Published: Thursday, 4th March, 2010 7:00am

Drugs offender faces big debt to people traffickers

AN ILLEGAL immigrant was staying at "a friend's house" in Haddington where up to £40,000 worth of cannabis plants were being grown.

Deng Zhang, 29, was in a property in Ford Road last October 29 where police officers discovered 417 cannabis plants - but he claimed to be initially unaware of their existence, Haddington Sheriff Court was told.

"If a plant yielded an ounce of usable cannabis then the optimum yield [here], on the basis of kilos, would be between £34,000 and £40,000", said procurator fiscal Gavin Dawson.

Zhang first appeared in court last October and pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supplying of a controlled drug, namely cannabis, at Whittinghame Mews, Ford Road.

Sheriff Daniel Kelly jailed Zhang for two years and recommended his deportation to China due to the "serious nature of the offence".

His solicitor warned of the "signiifcant debt" he and his family would have to pay on his return to China to the people traffickers who got him into the UK.

Officers arrived at the property and saw Zhang running down the stairs towards the front door, the court heard. He was detained and the property was searched.

Police found hundreds of cannabis plants at various stages of growth in two bedrooms.

Zhang, who confirmed he had been living in the country illegally for about 10 years at the time of the offence, claimed during police interview that he had been staying overnight at a friend's house to allow a gas engineer in the next day to fix a boiler, the court was told.

Sheriff Kelly condemned Zhang's part in the cannabis find.

"Your involvement has been said to be relatively minor but the cannabis plants there were present on a significant scale," he said.

"Those who become involved or concerned in such activities in this country face the imposition of a penalty, and that penalty should both reflect the gravity of the offence and should deter others from such activities."

Solicitor Ms Moultrie, representing Zhang, who appeared from custody, defended her client's involvement.

"He stated that he was unaware of the drugs being in the house," she told the court.

"He said initially on arriving at the house that was the case, but on the following day when he looked in the bedrooms on the upper floor he saw the plants and became suspicious that they were cannabis plants.

"His status is that as an illegal immigrant he is in custody. He will also be being held on an immigration warrant and they will be aware of this case and they will deal with matters in the same way.

"He came here in 1999 and he's done menial work since coming into this country. In all likelihood, he won't be staying in this country anyway.

"He will have to pay a significant debt to people traffickers in his home country who got him here, and the debt won't only be to him, it'll be to his family too."

Sheriff Kelly sentenced him to a custodial sentence, backdated to October 30 last year, and added: "You are a first offender but even first offenders with relatively minor involvement can expect to be dealt with severely.

"In my estimation there's no alternative other than a custodial sentence, and that's because of the gravity of the offence."

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