A cannabis courier caught with a haul of young plants which could potentially have been worth more than £250,000 has been jailed for a year.
Albanian national Harikson Shkurti, 23, was stopped by police as he drove an Audi A5 southbound on the M6 between Penrith and Carlisle at 1.25pm on December 8 2021.
Shkurti appeared vague and nervous, and initially provided a false name but his real identity was ascertained when bank cards and another document were found in a wallet.
More than 300 young cannabis plants were found wrapped in three carefully wrapped packages within the vehicle.
Shkurti denied any role in cultivating the drug but admitted to being a trusted courier tasked with taking the cannabis from Edinburgh to Manchester in a vehicle belonging to someone else.
On one of three of phones was a message sent requesting a video of “babies” which, the court heard, was interpreted as a reference to the plants. Shkurti was said to have replied: “Yeah, I send you now.”
He admitted possessing a class B drug with intent to supply and had lodged an application for asylum after entering the country illegally.
Defence lawyer Clarkson Baptiste said Shkurti, of Gogarloch Syke, Edinburgh, had been only 21 at the time of an offence committed during a descent into temptation which had led to him associating with the “wrong sort of people”. “There are people of great criminality who introduced him to this,” said Mr Baptiste.
Jailing Shkurti for 12 months, Judge Ian Unsworth KC noted the potential value of the drugs was between £85,680 and £257,040. “That is a wide range but it clearly underlines the plants were of real and significant value. I have no doubt that behind you lay a relatively well organised operation,” he said.
“Given the value of the drugs and the circumstances in which you transported them, you were no doubt trusted by those involved and those above you.”
