A Norfolk man is amongst those who have been jailed for involvement in a criminal network linked to bringing people into the country illegally to work in industrial-scale cannabis factories.

Ten members of the network have so far been jailed, following an investigation by the Eastern Regional Organised Crime Unit (EROCU) into the growing and selling of huge amounts of cannabis

Among them is Jurgen Nikoci, 26, of Church Road, Gorleston, who was jailed for one year and eight months for conspiracy to produce class B drugs.

It comes after ERSOU investigators seized cannabis plants worth a potential £520,000 from addresses in Ipswich and Colchester.

Following a trial in July 2021, ringleaders Gazmund Daci, 35, of Wherstead Road in Ipswich, and Fatjon Sulmataj, 37, of Manor Road in Birmingham, were jailed for five years and nine months and four years and ten months respectively for conspiracy to produce and supply class B drugs and assisting in unlawful immigration.

The pair, along with Ionut Gheorghita, 29, of Thebe Close in Ipswich, were the architects of a group operating across eastern England.

This week two further men, John Lockwood, 33, of Bull Road in Ipswich, and Elliot Thompson, 31, of Bluebell Avenue, Bury St Edmunds, are the latest to be jailed.

The pair were arrested after Border Force officers stopped a van at Dover as it arrived into the UK from Calais in October 2019.

Officers found an Albanian national in a false compartment in the boot and enquiries by ERSOU detectives established that Thompson had met with Lockwood and associate Richard Halls in France, where the person had been stowed in the van.

At an Ipswich Crown Court hearing on Monday (September 26) Thompson was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and Lockwood one year and eight months, suspended for 18 months.

Halls is due to be sentenced at a future hearing.

Detective Inspector Ian Mawdesley, from ERSOU, said: “As is often the case with large-scale cannabis production, the criminals behind it are frequently involved in a variety of other illicit activity.

“Not only is cannabis production illegal, but – as found in this investigation – the setups are often incredibly dangerous, using bypassed electricity along with hazardous chemicals and structural changes to buildings.

“Those involved in these activities care only about profit.”