A man who acted as a driver for two men involved in a cannabis factory in Watton, which was capable of producing cannabis worth more than �120,000 a year, was yesterday given a six-month suspended jail sentence.

A man who acted as a driver for two men involved in a cannabis factory in Watton, which was capable of producing cannabis worth more than �120,000 a year, was yesterday given a six-month suspended jail sentence.

When Weiyi Miao, 50, was stopped by police on routine patrol on a Watton industrial estate, they found his passengers had a bucket full of cannabis clippings. A set of keys then led them to a former MoT testing station on the Threxton Road Industrial Estate where officers discovered the cannabis factory with 593 plants and an intricate system of heating and lighting for the plants.

Guy Ayers, prosecuting at Norwich Crown Court, said that Miao told police his job was to transport the two men to the factory for which he was paid �50. The two men with the cannabis clippings were acting as gardeners tending to the plants.

Miao, of St George's Road, Great Yarmouth admitted being involved in the production of cannabis in December last year.

He was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work for the community and ordered to pay �500 towards prosecution costs.

Jonathan Morgans, for Miao, said: “He was only the driver.”

He said that Miao was involved in a restaurant business and made about �200 a week.

At an earlier hearing, Dao Yung Sung, 41 was jailed for two years four months and Yu Song Shi, 42 were jailed for 18 months for their part as acting as gardeners for the cannabis factory. At the time the factory was discovered police hailed the raid as a key victory in the battle against drugs production in Norfolk and said that good old-fashioned policing was at the heart of uncovering the drugs factory.