Vidjon Bilali, who is an illegal immigrant, will be sent back to Albania after his jail sentence
06:00, 09 May 2026
Police with a drone during the investigation at the house in Woodville Road, Leicester(Image: Leicester Media Online)
A hungover cannabis farmer tried to flee after police stopped him as he left a weed factory in a residential Leicester road.
Leicestershire Police had been tipped off that the three-bed semi-detached house in Woodville Road, near Western Park in Leicester, was a cannabis farm.
Officers went to the property at 11.15am on Sunday, February 1, and saw Vidjon Bilali leaving the house, where we was living at the time. They tried to stop him but he fled.
Prosecutor Gary Short told Leicester Crown Court today (Friday, May 8): “He managed to run off but he didn’t get far – it was a short foot chase.
“He was stopped and he was detained. He was sick in the police van and explained he had been out the night before drinking.”
The police entered the property and found the living room and two bedrooms were kitted out with reflective ceiling and wall coverings, zip-entry doors, high-powered lights on timing systems, carbon filter fan boxes and ducting.
There were also bottles of fertilizer and plant food in the house and the electric supply bypassed the electric meter – something that the fire service warns can lead to serious house blazes.
There were 69 plants inside, capable of raising £48,300 if sold in £10 deals, Mr Short said. Bilali admitted being concerned in the production of a class B drug.
Diane Mundill, representing Bilali, 36, who is an illegal immigrant, said her client had already signed the deportation forms, accepting he will be sent back to Albania after his jail sentence.
She said: “He was there because he had nowhere to live as a consequence of his illegal immigration status.”
Bilali, who has been behind bars since his arrest three months ago, was jailed for 18 months by Recorder Tom Owen.
He told Bilali: “You performed an important function in the criminal operation and the operation was of some sophistication.
“You knew what you were doing, you knew it was criminal and you knew the scale of the operation.”
Bilali will become liable for deportation after serving about half of the sentence.