Dealer caught smuggling busload of Albanians to work on his cannabis farms

A property landlord who tried to smuggle illegal immigrants into this country – to work at secret cannabis factories in Hull – has been jailed for eight years.

Police found three separate cannabis factories at premises owned by James Gordon, with a total estimated wholesale cannabis value of more than £500,000.

Gordon claimed that he did not know a thing about the cannabis that was being grown – and that he never even noticed the smell of the drug.

Police discovered the first ‘sophisticated set-up’ for a cannabis factory only by chance after finding paperwork with Gordon’s name on it while investigating a serious fire involving multiple vehicles at a property in a quiet rural village.

He was previously stopped while driving a bus in France, and 10 illegal Albanian immigrants were found hiding inside, Hull Crown Court heard.

Gordon, 66, of Great Hatfield, near Hornsea, denied three offences of being concerned in producing cannabis on three separate occasions, but he was convicted by a jury after a nine-day trial at the end of 2024.

He was later convicted after a separate trial at Doncaster Crown Court in September last year of facilitating unlawful immigration.

That case involved 10 Albanians being found hidden inside a bus that was stopped at a UK control zone in Coquelles, France, on October 5, 2020.

Later, Prosecutor Michael Masson told the court that police were led to two adjoining properties in Anlaby Road after they initially received a report of a vehicle in the early hours of January 12, 2020.

Other vehicles registered to Gordon. His name was found on some paperwork, and police discovered that Gordon was the owner of the Great Hatfield property and two in Anlaby Road.

The two properties had been adapted into a single one and were being used to grow and process skunk cannabis. There were 137 plants inside when the police burst in.

Masson said: ‘This was a sophisticated set-up. There were lights, and the electricity had been bypassed. It had to be made safe.’

In July that year, police investigating a report of a robbery went to one of the same Anlaby Road properties and found a second substantial cannabis operation there.

There were several vehicles in the yard, including a black bus registered to Gordon. On December 23, 2020, police searched the premises on Anlaby Road and found two Albanian men, who were later charged and convicted of producing cannabis.

Gordon said that he had a tenant and that he had an agent, who rented out the properties on his behalf. He claimed that he visited the property every three to six months, and he never smelled cannabis.

Other evidence found on his phone indicated that Gordon was involved in illegal immigration, with around £12,000 in payments made to his bank accounts.

Gordon had travelled to Bulgaria and was returning to the Eurotunnel from Belgium. He later claimed that he had been threatened with a knife by two men in Belgium and was forced to transport the 10 Albanian men.

Judge Tahir Khan KC told Gordon that he was satisfied that the object of the exercise in the immigration offence was for the Albanian men to be ‘put to work growing cannabis on your behalf’ once they were in this country.

‘You had an expectation of significant financial reward,’ Judge Khan said, adding: ‘This was repeat offending at a high level.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Comments Add as preferred source