Police found a cannabis factory in Luton after being alerted by neighbours who reported a break-in.
Loud smashing noises and shouting were heard during the robbery at the house in Chester Avenue on August 6, this year, Luton Crown Court heard.
By the time the officers arrived the raiders had made off, but they found 25-year-old Albanian Vexhi Noka, who was bleeding from a head wound.
A baseball bat and a machete were recovered. Noka, an illegal immigrant, had been acting as the “gardener” watering plants in the house.
Prosecutor Peter Shaw said 49 cannabis plants were found and there was evidence of a previous cannabis harvest.
The house had been converted into a sophisticated cannabis growing set-up with air vents, powerful lighting, fertiliser and growing equipment.
he electricity meter had been bypassed and there was a garden strimmer.
Noka’s fingerprints were found a bag and his DNA on two toothbrushes.
He had been sleeping on a mattress in the living room. Mr Shaw said when questioned by the police Noka said he knew what he was doing was wrong.
“He said he had no choice because he had a £50k gambling debt in Albania. He said he arrived illegally in a lorry and had registered for asylum,” he said.
Noka said the man he owed money to caught up with him in a Northampton cafe and made him water the cannabis plants in Luton.
He appeared for sentence having pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis. He had no previous convictions in the UK.
Thomas Cleeve, defending, said: “Those he had fled caught up with him in Northampton and put him to work in the cannabis factory in Luton.”
“This was the second robbery when he had been attacked. He was not quite enslaved but he was in a difficult position.”
He said Noka believed the robberies had been set up by the man whom he owed money to so that he would remain beholden to him.
Mr Cleeve said Noka, who wanted to apologise, would be in extreme danger if he was returned to Albania.
Recorder Bal Dhaliwal sentenced him to 20 week in jail, meaning that he will be released immediately or in the very near future.
She said the immigration authorities may now seek to remove him from the country.
