A father and son have each been jailed for two years after properties they controlled through their letting agency were used to grow cannabis farms on a commercial scale.

Sukdave Shabilla and his son Manroup Shabilla, of HB Lettings in South Shields, took part in a plot to grow skunk cannabis worth at least £210,000.

The pair claimed they had been intimidated, and their barristers said Manroup had been kidnapped at one point while Sukdave said live bullets were posted to him and a petrol bomb left at the family home.

Police raids discovered professional cannabis farms at three properties controlled by the Shabillas, tended by Vietnamese ‘gardeners’.

The pair claimed to have turned a blind eye to what was going on, but admitted conspiracy to produce a class B drug.

Caroline Goodwin, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court: “At premises under the control of the Shabillas, search warrants were executed at various times, and when they were, the police found what the Crown say were commercial cannabis farms.”

Jailing the Shabillas, Judge Stephen Earl said both men could have reported the whole story to the police.

Judge Earl told them: “In this matter, and indeed one of the purposes of sentencing, leaving aside that of rehabilitation and punishment, one needs to send a message that turning a blind eye or indeed allowing premises in circumstances such as this to be used for the evil that cultivation of cannabis on this scale represents, can only be met by an immediate prison sentence.”

Two Vietnamese ‘gardeners’ have already received prison sentences for involvement in the farms.

Another man who is believed to link the South Shields cannabis farms to an illegal operation in London, is being sought by Northumbria Police and the Met.

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