Man, 23, hid under bed as police raided drug factory

A MAN was found hiding under a bed when police raided a large scale drugs factory.

- By ADAM EVERETT

Ermal Tarja was smuggled into the UK on the back of a lorry in order to tend to the cannabis farm.

It came after his father reportedly racked up a debt of 10million Albanian lek in his home country. He was said to have agreed to work as a “gardener” in the drug farm, which was located within a flat above a shop and was capable of harvesting nearly £100,000 of the class B drug, while apparently fearing that members of his family would be kidnapped.

Liverpool Crown Court heard on Tuesday that Merseyside Police attended a maisonette above commercial premises on Aigburth Road on December 8 last year and discovered a “large cannabis production site” comprising four separate growing rooms. One of these was said to be “active”, containing a total of 74 plants and hydroponic equipment.