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An Albanian teenager was sentenced to 20 months in prison on Monday, after being found guilty of producing narcotics. 19-year-old Mariglen Luka was arrested inside a "grow house" in Leeds on March 6 of this year.
According to prosecutor Mark Thomas, police officers had gone to the address to arrest another person. Initially, Luka attempted to flee through the back door, but then changed his mind and opened the door, allowing the officers to conduct a search. They found 52 cannabis plants there, and the electricity meter had been tampered with, CNN in Albanian says.
During questioning at the police station, it was reported that Luka admitted to living in the property and looking after the plants. He revealed that he had entered the UK in a lorry from Belgium just 8 days before his arrest. Like many young Albanians who immigrate illegally to the UK, Luka said he had a debt of £16,000 to pay to the people who had facilitated his entry into the country. He also told police that he had been sent directly to the grow house by the traffickers.
But despite claiming to be afraid of the people he owed money to, the court ruled that he played a "significant role" in the criminal activity and "was not under external pressure" as he had the keys to the property and could leave whenever he wanted.
Despite the repeated requests from Luka's lawyer to suspend the sentence due to his young age, the judge said he was afraid Luka might disappear if he was left free.
The judge also said that Luka would be deported from the UK after serving half of his sentence, although the final decision would be made by the Home Office.
The use of young Albanians by drug traffickers has been one of the hottest topics of discussion in the UK in recent months, culminating in the signing of an agreement with the Albanian government to repatriate illegal Albanian immigrants.
From December 13 to the first week of April, 1000 Albanian citizens have been returned to Albania. These are Albanians who have failed to obtain asylum in the UK, as well as voluntary returns to Albania.
The operational teams of the United Kingdom and Albania have set up a joint "task force" for migration, which serves as the main gateway for coordinating measures and specialized operational actions to manage the illegal migration of Albanian citizens to the UK.