UKP56,000 CROP OF CANNABIS IN FLAT

A FORMER Army officer was jailed for seven years yesterday after 758
cannabis plants were found growing in tropical conditions in a flat he
owned.

Police estimated that David Brown, 32, who was trained at Sandhurst, could
have earned as much as UKP56,000 from the plants. A previous crop had been
harvested. Brown was convicted of producing cannabis at the flat in
Langside Avenue, Glasgow, on Jan 6 this year, and being concerned in the
supply of the drug. The Crown intends to seize assets of UKP46,500.

Sentencing him at the High Court in Edinburgh, Judge Robin McEwan QC said
Brown had conducted "a well-planned and clever" operation that must have
required a significant capital investment.

The court was told that the cannabis was discovered when neighbours saw
smoke coming from the flat and called the fire brigade. Firemen found that
an electrical junction box in one of the rooms had overloaded because so
many appliances were in use. The jury saw a video showing plants growing
under a battery of lighting and heating equipment. The flat was littered
with bags of fertiliser, canisters of gas and garden equipment.

Brown said he rented two rooms of the flat and was rarely there, except to
collect rent from a tenant. He did not know what was in the rooms because
the locks had been changed and claimed that the tenant disappeared after
the fire.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)