Drugs gang snared by their own CCTV cams

CLEAR IMAGES OF THE MEN HELPED TO CONVICT THEM

- By JADE McELWEE [e-mail] @JadeMReporter

A GANG behind a £1m Teesside cannabis farm managed to score an own goal when police officers secured their conviction with evidence from their own CCTV cameras.

Vladimir Shabani, 52, Nathan Lee, 25, Flamur Pupa, 57, and Zabit Eshja were involved in the cultivation of a huge cannabis farm inside of a large warehouse on a Hartlepool industrial estate.

Cleveland Police officers uncovered the large production operation in a building on Greythorpe Industrial Estate in the town on Friday, November 22, last year, and the remnants of 1,561 cannabis plants, believed to have been worth around £1.3m, were seized.

When police got into the building, most of the plants had already been cropped, bagged and removed.

However, officers seized the CCTV system that the gang had in place across the building and were able to gather evidence of the gang's activities.