Two males accused of serving to to run a £400,000 hashish farm have been freed after it emerged they had been victims of human trafficking.
Police discovered Alfred Dimo and Julien Beqaj locked in an industrial unit together with greater than 1400 vegetation.
The lads, each from Albania, claimed they had been being held in opposition to their will and compelled to work as “gardeners”.
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They had been arrested and spent 10 months in jail awaiting trial.
Dimo, 43, and Beqaj, 20, had been accused of manufacturing hashish on the unit in Muirhead, Lanarkshire, on Could 4 final yr. They had been launched after pleading not responsible at Airdrie Sheriff Courtroom on Tuesday.
The Crown requested for the case to be abandoned after a “conclusive grounds resolution” by the House Workplace that there was a robust risk the lads had been trafficked.
Police Scotland stated the hashish vegetation seized had an estimated road worth of £284,000 to £424,000.
Eddie Kelly, Dimo’s solicitor, stated: “My shopper is happy with this resolution to finish proceedings and intends to return to Albania.”
MSP Rhoda Grant, convener of the Scottish Parliament ’s cross-party group on human trafficking, welcomed the House Workplace resolution, however insisted extra should be carried out to sort out the “scourge” of trafficking.
She stated: “It's a scourge on our society that Scotland seems to be a gorgeous marketplace for traffickers.
“Legislation enforcement and authorities departments have to proceed to work collectively to guard and stop susceptible victims from exploitation.”
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