Images show cannabis factory that resulted in M25 drug bust

Hertfordshire police intervened in an Albanian gang’s plot after trapping the rented transit van with plants worth about £300,000 on the M1 and eventually stopping them on the M25 in Hertfordshire on September 26 last year.

An Audi with £3,675 cash and an 18-carat-gold Rolex worth £28,000 was also stopped in the operation.

The drug bust was made after an investigation into a “professional” drug gang running a £500,000 cannabis factory in upmarket properties in Harrogate, North Yorks.

Debris left over in Alexandra Road Photo: North Yorks Police

Yoko Banks, a 73-year-old former guest house owner, rented out her homes “in the expectation of significant profit” a court heard.

Banks and six gang members appeared for sentencing at Leeds Crown Court on Friday after they each admitted playing a part in the audacious, mega-money drugs plot.

Sellaj, Kujtim Brahaj, 50, Indrit Brahaj, 27, Bledar Elezaj, 36, Andi Kokaj, 23, and Erblin Elezaj, 31, admitted charges relating to the production and supply of cannabis but only at one property.

Left to Right: Visar Sellaj, Kujtim Brahaj, Indrit Brahaj, Erblin Elezaj, Bledar Elezaj, Andi Kokaj Photo: North Yorks Police

Banks, of Harrogate, admitted three counts of being concerned in the supply of cannabis.

The Albanian drug gang who ran the factory have been jailed for a combined 22 years.

Prosecutor Martin Bosomworth said the “professional” gang had invested tens of thousands into the three cannabis factories at Banks’s properties.

The gang even dug a trench outside a three-storey Edwardian villa to feed electricity cables to the house to power the cultivation system and bypass the electricity grid.

On one occasion, neighbours in the affluent street spotted the gang digging the ditch underneath a pavement and up the driveway.

When they asked them what they were doing, they were told they were laying cables “for a fast-fibre broadband connection”, the court heard.

Cannabis debris left at the stairs in Alexandra Road Photo: North Yorks Police

Police were called to a five-bedroom villa on September 26 to reports of a disturbance in the street, and officers found 283 plants in the four growing rooms at the house.

A large crossbow and arrows were also found next to the front door.

Circumvented electricity cables at the home

There were other large grows at two of Banks’s other properties which had the “capability of producing industrial amounts” of highly potent skunk, the court heard.

The bust in Hertfordshire took place after the gang made a “hasty clearance” of any mature cannabis plants they could find before clearing the scene.

Although Banks was not involved in the cultivation, she had played a “facilitating” or advisory role in the plot, the court was told.

Banks - who had previous convictions for health-and-safety offences - was due to be paid at least £12,000 a month in rent for the three properties and was also receiving “high” deposits.

Yoko Banks was jailed for three-and-a-half years

Jailing Banks for three-and-a-half years, Mr Bayliss told her: “You have in your time been a successful businesswoman.

“You were, at the time, in some financial difficulties which may explain why you were - a woman in your seventies, a widow with a number of health problems - prepared to get involved with a gang from London.

“You knew that by doing that you were bringing drugs and criminality to Harrogate, a town where you have lived and worked for many years.”

Sellaj, who had been “directing operations”, was jailed for six years and nine months.

Erblin Elizaj was jailed for five years and two months and Indrit Brahaj was jailed for four years and four months.

Kujtim Brahaj and Bledar Elezaj were each jailed for three years for their lesser roles.

Andi Kokaj was also jailed for three years.