
A 47-year-old Albanian man caught by British police during a raid on a cannabis farm in Eyemouth has been jailed for 14 months.
Police estimate the illegal cannabis cultivation, discovered at a unit on an industrial estate on the city's Coldingham Road, is worth around £900,000.
Adriatik Abazi had previously pleaded guilty to a charge of drug production at the Marnic Seafoods building between November 18 and 28 of last year.
Selkirk Sheriff Court heard today (Monday) that the owner of the unit became suspicious after the property's windows were boarded up and the rent had not been paid.
Abazi, who was found inside with the cultivation, told police he was "told to water the plants."
His lawyer, Ed Hulme, explained that his client, who worked in construction in Italy, where he had lived from a young age, had flown to the UK to visit a friend when he heard some people speaking his native language in a London pub.
After a few drinks, he introduced himself and, after consuming more alcohol, agreed to go with them to an unknown location.
Abazi said he was given a mobile phone with instructions on how to care for the cannabis plants and was told that if he did so, they would return his travel documents, which had been seized.
He stayed in the building for 11 days before police found him.
The lawyer added: "He does not feel like a victim of human trafficking, but he feels cheated."