Drug couriers deny growing cannabis at Llandysul ex-school

Police stopped a car travelling through Carmarthenshire on July 4 and found five suitcases of cannabis inside.

The two men, Aldi Gjegjaj and Alfred Perkola were arrested, and further enquiries found they had travelled from London to Ceredigion, where they stopped for a short time before leaving.

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A raid was carried out at a former school building on Marble Terrace in Llandysul, and about 1,500 cannabis plants were found growing across two floors.

A Dyfed-Powys Police spokesperson said that these plants would have produced a yield worth up to £1,960,000.

43-year-old Perkola, of Gunnersbury Avenue in Ealing, and Gjegjaj, 25, of Salford, appeared at Swansea Crown Court charged with three offences.

Cannabis plants worth £2 million were found at a former school building in Llandysul. (Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)

The pair pleaded not guilty to conspiring to supply cannabis and being concerned in the production of cannabis between June 30 and July 6.

They each admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply it.

“Mr Gjegjaj was acting as a courier on the night in question, and that is his only involvement,” defence counsel Ieuan Rees said.

“He received instructions to attend at the particular address, pick up the drugs, and was given another address to deliver them.”

Cannabis plants were found growing across two floors of the former school building. (Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)

Emily Bennett, for Perkola, said: “He was a courier only. He took no part in the production of cannabis.

“He accepts he had visited the school address on three occasions.

“However, it was only on that date he was arrested that he collected cannabis.”

• READ MORE: Former school where £2 million worth of cannabis was found is destroyed by huge fire.

Prosecutor Ryan Bowen said these pleas were not acceptable, and a trial would be sought on the remaining charges.

Judge Catherine Richards set a trial date for December 10, and remanded the defendants back in to custody.