The Halle-Vilvoorde Public Prosecutor's Office demanded a 28-month prison sentence on Tuesday for a 31-year-old man who was caught with a large-scale professional cannabis plantation.
A bailiff discovered the cannabis plantation when he came to collect overdue invoices.
The bailiff was sent to the house in Sint-Genesius-Rode on 25 May because the residents had not paid their rent for a long time and had accumulated a string of unpaid bills. When no one answered, a locksmith was called who forced the front door open.
"When the bailiff entered the house with the police, they found a professional cannabis plantation spread over two cultivation rooms, in the basement and on the first floor," the Prosecutor's Office said. "Also present in the residence was a 31-year-old Albanian man, who was clearly part of the organisation responsible for the plantation."
According to the man's lawyer, he was not the main person responsible for the plantation. The investigation to find any other suspects had yielded nothing, the Prosecutor's Office said, because both the rent of the property and all utility contracts had been concluded under false identities.
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"He was on his way to France from Albania when he was asked to look after a property for a short time," the lawyer said. "He was set to be paid €2,500 for that. Only when he arrived at the property did it become clear to him that he was to look after a cannabis plantation, and was pressurised by the organisation not to back down. He had only been at the property for about two weeks when the police raided it."
The lawyer of the arrested man pleaded for a suspended prison sentence. The final verdict will be passed down on 24 October.
