COPY BY TOM BEDFORD
Pictured: Andrew Jakes (R)
Re: Ten men on trial at Merthyr Crown Court are facing jail for turning a travellers camp built with a £3m grant from the Welsh Government into a giant cannabis plantation.
Half of the 24 caravans at their newly-renovated gypsy camp in Merthyr Tydfil were used as cover for a sophisticated drugs-growing operation worth up to £340,000 a year, a court heard.
Their Glynmill Gypsy and Traveller Site had been given a...
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COPY BY TOM BEDFORD
Pictured: Andrew Jakes (R)
Re: Ten men on trial at Merthyr Crown Court are facing jail for turning a travellers camp built with a £3m grant from the Welsh Government into a giant cannabis plantation.
Half of the 24 caravans at their newly-renovated gypsy camp in Merthyr Tydfil were used as cover for a sophisticated drugs-growing operation worth up to £340,000 a year, a court heard.
Their Glynmill Gypsy and Traveller Site had been given a £3m grant of public money for improvements including community hall, toilet blocks and landscaping.
Andrew Jakes, 36, Adam Jones, 23, Barry Jones, 34, Brinnie Mochan, 18, Peter Gilheaney, 18, Steven Francis Gilheaney, 33, Martin Gilheaney, 27, and Peter Patrick Gilheaney, 27, all of Glynmill Caravan Site, admitted conspiracy to produce cannabis and cannabis production.
Another two – Edward Probert, 27, of Pontypool, and William Henry Williams, 20, of Merthyr Tydfil – also pleaded guilty to the same charges.
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