An Albanian asylum seeker has been jailed after being caught operating a large-scale cannabis farm in Oakley.

A semi-detached house in a residential street in the village was raided by police and 33-year-old Samir Haxhiaj made a run for it but was apprehended.

Haxhiaj, of Larch Close, London, was found guilty after a jury trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

Haxhiaj claimed in his evidence that he had been “trafficked from London to a strange place” and had been left there with two other people.

His story, that he had been arrested on the day he arrived there was rejected by the jury.

In fact, he had been there for three months running the cannabis farm with “a high degree of professionalism and expertise”, according to a specialist witness at the trial.

Haxhiaj was convicted of two charges.

Between April 5 and June 28, 2021, at Stobie Place and elsewhere he was concerned in the supply of cannabis.

Also, between the same dates at the address in Stobie Place, he produced cannabis.

Depute fiscal Douglas Thomson previously told the court the rooms of the house “were full of plants up to four and five feet high”. There were also lights, fans and electrical facilities used in the operation.

The court was told the drugs had a potential street value of £137,000.

Defence solicitor Aime Allan said her client is claiming asylum and has an on-going case submitted with the Home Office.

Sheriff Susan Duff commented: “This was a proper cannabis factory. The whole house was a cannabis factory.”

She jailed him for two years and ten months.