The British authorities have arrested an Albanian, who was a football player, after he was found working in a "grass house" in Swansea. Elsion Koka, a 26-year-old Albanian citizen, who entered England illegally, was put in handcuffs.
British media reports that when the police intervened in the house adapted to a cannabis plantation they discovered that the entire property was dedicated to the production of the drug with the plants that Elsion Koka cared for.
The police announced that there were 289 roots being cultivated, these at different levels of maturity. The potential yield of narcotic plants was almost 25 kilograms, with a street value of nearly 150,000 euros.
Elsion Koka has refused to speak with the police and the prosecutor's office. He had paid a criminal gang a "significant" sum of money to fly him to the UK, with part of the journey made in the boot of a vehicle, and expected to find work in construction.
Lawyer Hywel Davies said that the defendant was in Britain to earn some more income and that he was a professional football player, while he sent part of his earnings to Albania for his family.
During Koka's defence, his lawyer indicated that the young man had been a professional footballer for a period and was a highly educated man with a Master's degree in sports science. According to British media, he said that given Koka's immigration status, a sentence was inevitable.
Koka has played with several sports clubs in Albania Klosi, Kevitan, KF Luzi i Vogël 2008.
