EIGHT people involved in the mass production of cannabis in Swindon have been recommended for deportation by a judge.

At Bristol Crown Court yesterday Judge Simon Darwall-Smith handed down sentences totalling 25 years on five defendants who pleaded guilty and four more found guilty of conspiracy to produce cannabis.

Detective Constable Colin Haynes of Thames Valley police, who ran the investigation said: “We try and tackle major cannabis production, we try and deal with it very seriously.

“There’s still huge amounts of money to be made and potentially a lot of damage to people’s homes, hence why this was treated so seriously.”

Judge Darwall-Smith said: “This is a large and sophisticated operation where several properties were used, rented and converted.”

“These properties we’re told have a potential of yielding a substantial amount of money.”

James Patrick, prosecuting, explained how the group had cultivated cannabis at addresses in Kipling Gardens, Upper Stratton; Torun Way, Haydon; Cardiff and Oxford.

Former Rouge lap-dancing club boss Aurel Kollabani, 26, his brother Elis, 25, and friend Mustafa Duka were all sentenced to four years while Thi Hai Nguyen was found guilty in absence and sentenced to three years.

Aurel Kollabani came to the UK at 17 from Kosovo and had convictions for assault, but was living here legally and was given leave to remain.

Before his arrest he was living in Swindon with his partner and two children and had been running a car wash business, the court heard.

Emma Ross, from the Wiltshire probation service, also said Aurel still denied involvement in the operation and claimed he did not realised that cannabis was involved.

Nicholas Fridd, defending, said that although the evidence suggested his client had taken Duka to Oxford on at least two occasions, he had not been found in possession of any drugs or with large sums of money in his bank account.

“It would be difficult to say he’s a manager,” he said.

Ellis Kollabani, moved to the UK at 15 to play football for West Bromwich Albion, but ended up looking for other work in Swindon, the court heard.

Miss Ross said he had told her: “I made a big mistake and mixed with the wrong people.”

Paul Orton, defending, said: “He’s shocked by the verdict in this case to put it mildly.

“Looking at the evidence it’s difficult to see where he joined any conspiracy.”

Paul Grumbar, defending Mustafa Duka, said: “This was a man simply used to perform a particular task and his task was to rent these properties.”

Peter Fortune, defending Thanh Hguyen and Artan Veliu, Chris Oswald, defending Julian Shaquiri, and Michael Pulsford, defending Dang Loan, asked for their clients’ early pleas to be taken into account.

Adam Crook, defending Tony Pham, said his client had not been an organiser in the production.

Of the Albanians Shaquiri was sentenced to 30 months, Veliu, 31, of Torun Way, was given 12 months while Vietnamese Thanh Nguyen, 25, of Birmingham, was given 30 months, Loan, 19, of no fixed address, was given two years and Pham, 32, two years.