TWO MEN have been jailed for running a cannabis factory which could have yielded up to almost £250,000 worth of the drug.

Two of the cannabis growers, Vallet Agius and Robert Dudley, were each jailed for four years on Friday. Dudley’s son, also Robert, 22, escaped with a community punishment order for 220 hours.

Agius, of The Quay, High Street, Aylesford, and the Dudleys, of Kingfisher Drive, Chatham, admitted producing and cultivating cannabis.

Dudley senior, 45, also admitted possessing cannabis, four charges of possessing a prohibited firearm and two of possessing prohibited ammunition.

Agius, 38, also pleaded guilty to possessing small amounts of cannabis, cocaine and amphetamine sulphate.

After watching the movements of the three men for some time, police pounced on a barn in Marden, near Tunbridge Wells.

Andrew Rodger, prosecuting, said observations began at a barn fitted with CCTV and other equipment in January last year.

Officers moved in on January 7 this year. Mr Rodger said: “A fully operational hydrophonics factory was found.

“It was sustaining 3,552 cannabis plants. Experts analysed them. It was estimated that the yield would have been in the region of 11kg. The street value was between £149,250 and £248,750.”

When Agius’s home was searched, books relating to cannabis cultivation were found, along with over £2,000 in cash and the small amount of drugs.

At Dudley senior’s home in a chest of drawers was a quantity of firearms packed in plastic tubes and ammunition. Some of the guns fired pellets but were adapted for live ammunition. There was no evidence the weapons had been used.

Gavin Irwin, for Dudley senior, said his client maintained the plants did not belong to him but he allowed Agius to use the barn knowing they were being grown. He received rent of £100 a week.

Peter Caldwell, for Agius, said the father-of-three had used cannabis for some years and grew it for his own use.

He said: “There is no doubt the motive for this operation was commercial. It didn’t come to the point where it was in profit.

“He is living on the charity of other people. His mortgage is severely in arrears. His home will be repossessed. He will be ruined and that is his own fault.”

Aisling Burns, for Dudley junior, said he had worked for his father as a labourer and merely carried on when asked.

Judge Andrew Patience said it was a highly sophisticated operation, observed by police for about a year.

He said: “Had the police not known of it, I have no doubt it would have turned into a highly profitable enterprise.”

The judge said he dealt with Dudley’s son on the basis that his role was a subordinate one.