Deported criminal sneaks back into the UK to set up £200,000 cannabis factory

This is the moment police finally catch up to a man deported back to Albania before smuggling himself back into the UK to set up a £200,000 cannabis farm.

Redis Shahini, 22, entered the UK on a small boat in 2023 and applied for asylum but grew drugs to make money when his application was rejected.

Police raided a cannabis farm he was running in rural town of Ystalyfera, South Wales, and he was deported on drugs charges.

Not to be put off, Shahini smuggled himself back into the country months later to set up another cannabis growing empire in Nottingham.

Bodycam footage shows the moment officers raided the drugs farm in Manesty Crescent, in the Clifton area of the city.

Shahini attempted to escape by running out of the house and leaping over garden fences but was wrestled to the ground by cops.

Officers seized 263 cannabis plants, with a street value of up to £200,000, growing across three floors of the semi-detached property.

Shahini, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to producing a Class B drug.

He also admitted knowingly entering the UK in breach of a deportation order when he appeared at Nottingham Crown Court.

He was jailed for a total of 22 months and will be recommended for deportation on release from prison.

PC Jane Gibson, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: ‘The team received intelligence this house was being used to produce drugs.

‘We’re grateful for these reports and they highlight our efforts to build trust and strong links within the community.

‘The grow was a substantial enterprise which would have made the criminals behind it a considerable amount of money if we had not acted and shut it down when we did.

‘As always with these drugs factories, the property could also have become a magnet for other criminals tempted to steal the crop and become a fire hazard.

‘Shahini tried to flee through neighbouring gardens but officers showed great determination to chase him down.’

In 2024 Shahini was deported after serving half of a 12-month sentence for producing cannabis.

The judge heard he left Albania as a result of a ‘blood feud’ and getting involved in the drug trade was ‘entirely out of character for him’.

It came after Shabana Mahmood has said she is not ‘plagued with America-brain’, ruling out a US-style immigration crackdown.

The Home Secretary said the Government had secured ‘record removals’ without needing armed units similar to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

ICE has faced criticism in the US, accused of arresting both legal migrants and US citizens and targeting people based on their race.

The deaths of two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, shot during clashes with federal officers during demonstrations against ICE raids in Minneapolis have sparked further protests.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch last year told The Telegraph newspaper she ‘wouldn’t be surprised’ if US president Mr Trump ‘loved’ her party’s deportation plans.

These included a pledge to deport 150,000 foreigners not granted permission to stay every year.