Cannabis grower jailed after police raid

A cannabis cultivator has been jailed after police discovered a large grow when they raided a home.

Officers found plants growing in three upstairs bedrooms when they executed a warrant at the terraced house in Tilbury Rise, Cinderhill, Nottingham.

Ronald Kumria was lying on a sofa downstairs when officers from the City West Neighbourhood Policing Team entered the property on the morning of 1 August 2023.

During police interviews, the 25-year-old said he had been living at the property for a few days to look after the plants in return for cash.

He told officers he had been threatened with violence if he left.

More than 50 plants were found in total and each bedroom had been kitted out with fluorescent bulbs and other equipment to power the grow.

The electricity supply had also been bypassed thanks to some highly dangerous wiring.

Kumria, of no fixed abode, was jailed for a total of one year and eight months when he appeared at Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday (2 November).

He had previously pleaded guilty to production of a Class B drug.

Sergeant Darran Owen, of Nottinghamshire Police, said:

“The production and supply of illegal drugs is a very serious offence so I’m pleased Kumria has been put behind bars.

“He claimed he had been threatened with violence if he left the property and this is quite possible.

“It is a technique used widely by the criminal gangs who are ultimately responsible for the majority of cannabis grows we attend.

“It also illustrates exactly why we take cannabis cultivation very seriously. The organised criminals involved are quite happy to exploit people and put the wider community at risk to line their own pockets.

“These operations can often bring with them further criminality to a neighbourhood and neighbouring families are put at risk from the dangerous electrical modifications invariably associated with them.

“We will continue to carry out proactive raids such as this one to disrupt these drug operations and our work to tackle the organised criminals behind them continues.”