UPDATE: |Cannabis ‘gardener’ leapt from top floor window in vain attempt to escape police News

Amarildo Huba jumped out of a disused bar to try and escape police that were pursuing him

A man who was “gardening” £500,000 worth of cannabis plants leapt from a top floor window in an attempt to escape police. Officers used Amarildo Huba’s toothbrush to connect him to the “flourishing” cannabis grow which had been set up inside a disused bar.

Officers raided the farm and found over 500 plants there. Upon reviewing CCTV footage it emerged that a man who would be identified as Huba had leapt from an upper storey window as officers smashed in the doors.

But despite his desperate escape attempt, Huba was identified after DNA was recovered from a toothbrush that officers seized at the building. The 20-year-old initially tried to explain it away by saying he had been moving furniture in the building, and had brushed his teeth while there as his dentist had told him to do so, the Liverpool ECHO reports.

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The building was a former bar which had closed down in summer 2023, and since then all three floors had been converted into large scale cannabis production.

Prosecutor Christopher Taylor said that 519 “viable” plants were recovered from inside the former bar, estimated to yield between 14.5kg and 43.5kg and worth between £43,500 and £512,880.

Officers didn’t find anyone in the farm when they raided, but did find one part of the bar which appeared to have made into a sleeping area.

After seeing the figure jumping from the window on CCTV officers linked Huba to the scene using DNA evidence from his toothbrush, as well as one of his fingerprints which was found on a lighting unit.

The 20-year-old, of Roundthorn Road in Oldham, was arrested in the Manchester area on February 18 this year.

In an interview with police, he said that he had “done some work at the property moving furniture around” and had taken his toothbrush with him “on the recommendation of his dentist”.

He since changed his story, saying that he had a debt of £6,000 to smugglers who had brought him into the UK and had agreed to work as a gardener in the cannabis factory as a way to work off the debt.

Huba said he “feared his family in Albanian would be at risk of reprisals”, and said that he had been working on the farm for around three weeks when he made his desperate escape.

The defendant has no previous convictions but received a caution for possession of cocaine with intent to supply following an arrest in London in April 2024.

Jim Smith, defending, told the court: “He wishes to return to Albania, although he credits his experience in the United Kingdom as having complemented his life in so far as the friends he has made and his recent partner, who he hopes will join him in Albania.

“He has obviously suffered, owing to his exploitation and the period of incarceration. Given his age and the arrangements undertaken to effectively transport him to this country illegally, he fell under the control of those who he became indebted to.

“He paid off a partial amount of that debt, but they wanted him to repay the remainder more swiftly. He became involved through that process, which led to his incarceration. That has been a salutary lesson to him.”

Huba admitted production of cannabis. Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool wearing a grey Calvin Klein t-shirt and assisted by an interpreter, he was handed 15 months in a young offenders’ institute.

Sentencing, Judge Ian Harris said: “For want of a better phrase, this was a very professional growing operation. The plants were very healthy, well tended to and flourishing. I have no doubt that this was a large business enterprise. You were voluntarily part of this business process, albeit as a gardener.

“Cannabis is not a soft drug. It is dangerous. It causes psychosis. It affects individuals and communities and can damage lives irreparably. You were part of an organisation that was producing cannabis on a huge scale.

“You would like to return to Albania. You will undoubtedly be deported at your point of release, and I know you will welcome that.”