Ballyheigue
Member
Bradford Interchange has seen more than buses and passengers it seems, the following has come from an article on MSN which is in the attached link below.
A CANNABIS farm producing drugs that could have been worth more than £6.2million was discovered underneath Bradford Interchange.
Back in November 2024, while the transport hub was closed to the public for a year, police discovered a huge growing operation which involved more than 6,800 plants.
Prosecutor Jane Brady told Bradford Crown Court that the farm occupied 19 rooms with a makeshift mezzanine area.
She said a drugs expert had described the operation as “the most sophisticated set up he had ever seen”.
At the time, one nearby resident told the Telegraph & Argus the scale of the discovery was "massive" and added that the location was quite "blatant" - being not far from City Hall and on the same street as Trafalgar House police station.
It comes after a judge sentenced two men who were caught working as “gardeners” at the site.
Four men, who denied involvement in the production of cannabis, had been on trial at Bradford Crown Court and a jury found them not guilty on Monday afternoon.
On Tuesday, Hung Nguyen, 65, and 24-year-old Sheraz Ahmed, both of no fixed abode, were sentenced after they had pleaded guilty to the production of cannabis charge at earlier court hearings.
The court heard that both of them had been remanded in custody since late 2024 and had already served their prison sentences on remand.
Nguyen was given a 24-month jail sentence and Ahmed was sentenced to 27 months, but Judge Sophie McKone explained that even though they had served those sentences already they may still be subject to detention elsewhere.
Neither of the men had any previous convictions.
“Once inside officers discovered an extensive and sophisticated cannabis grow with around 19 separate rooms and a mezzanine level containing cannabis plants at various stages of growth,” she told the jury.
The living area contained nine separate mattresses with full bedding as well as a shower and toilet block and a kitchen with fridges and freezers in it.
“Evidence of both fresh and frozen food was found and a full warm meal that was laid out on the table was also seen by officers leading them to believe that persons were still inside the location.”
Eventually police officers found six people hiding in the premises and they were arrested.
The judge said fortunately the interchange was closed at the time, but had it not been then many thousands of commuters would have been put at risk by the “undoubted fire risk” that such a great big grow could potentially have caused.
Judge McKone said the fire risk also applied to those working at the grow and she noted that, having seen the photographs and the body-worn police footage during the trial, the living and working conditions were “extremely unsatisfactory”.
“I accept you had little chance, if any, of leaving that property,” said the judge'.
“That’s why I say had there been a fire you all would have been in extreme danger.
“I accept that your roles were limited to gardeners, but they were very important roles nonetheless.”
'Cannabis farm worth more than £6.2million was found underneath Bradford Interchange
A CANNABIS farm producing drugs that could have been worth more than £6.2million was discovered underneath Bradford Interchange.
Back in November 2024, while the transport hub was closed to the public for a year, police discovered a huge growing operation which involved more than 6,800 plants.
Prosecutor Jane Brady told Bradford Crown Court that the farm occupied 19 rooms with a makeshift mezzanine area.
She said a drugs expert had described the operation as “the most sophisticated set up he had ever seen”.
At the time, one nearby resident told the Telegraph & Argus the scale of the discovery was "massive" and added that the location was quite "blatant" - being not far from City Hall and on the same street as Trafalgar House police station.
It comes after a judge sentenced two men who were caught working as “gardeners” at the site.
Four men, who denied involvement in the production of cannabis, had been on trial at Bradford Crown Court and a jury found them not guilty on Monday afternoon.
On Tuesday, Hung Nguyen, 65, and 24-year-old Sheraz Ahmed, both of no fixed abode, were sentenced after they had pleaded guilty to the production of cannabis charge at earlier court hearings.
The court heard that both of them had been remanded in custody since late 2024 and had already served their prison sentences on remand.
Nguyen was given a 24-month jail sentence and Ahmed was sentenced to 27 months, but Judge Sophie McKone explained that even though they had served those sentences already they may still be subject to detention elsewhere.
Neither of the men had any previous convictions.
Living area contained nine separate mattresses
In her opening to the trial jury, Miss Brady described how police officers had to force entry through locked metal gates and a hidden locked door.“Once inside officers discovered an extensive and sophisticated cannabis grow with around 19 separate rooms and a mezzanine level containing cannabis plants at various stages of growth,” she told the jury.
The living area contained nine separate mattresses with full bedding as well as a shower and toilet block and a kitchen with fridges and freezers in it.
“Evidence of both fresh and frozen food was found and a full warm meal that was laid out on the table was also seen by officers leading them to believe that persons were still inside the location.”
Eventually police officers found six people hiding in the premises and they were arrested.
'Undoubted fire risk'
Passing sentence, Judge McKone told Nguyen and Ahmed: ”You were both what is termed gardeners working in what can only be described as an industrial sized grow for commercial use here in the city centre of Bradford.”The judge said fortunately the interchange was closed at the time, but had it not been then many thousands of commuters would have been put at risk by the “undoubted fire risk” that such a great big grow could potentially have caused.
Judge McKone said the fire risk also applied to those working at the grow and she noted that, having seen the photographs and the body-worn police footage during the trial, the living and working conditions were “extremely unsatisfactory”.
“I accept you had little chance, if any, of leaving that property,” said the judge'.
“That’s why I say had there been a fire you all would have been in extreme danger.
“I accept that your roles were limited to gardeners, but they were very important roles nonetheless.”
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