Vasil Gjergji awaits sentencing for major cannabis crop bust

An elderly grandfather has taken full responsibility after police uncovered hundreds of cannabis plants at a Torrensville home earlier this year.

A 67-year-old grandfather and former bakery owner who was busted with hundreds of cannabis plants awaits in Adelaide’s west will now wait for his custodial sentence to begin.

Vasil Gjergji appeared in the Adelaide District Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to a number of charges including cultivate a large commercial quantity of controlled plant, traffic in large commercial quantity of controlled drug and possessing prescribed equipment.

On April 29, this year, police searched a Torrensville house Gjergji had been renting along with his wife.

Detectives searched a home in Torrensville and located more than 400 cannabis plants, almost 40kg of dried cannabis and hydroponic equipment. Pic: SAPOL

In a shed, police located 215 small cannabis plants, 60 large cannabis plants while in the laundry they further located 155 cannabis clones with “developed root systems”.

Police also located 37.9kg of female flowering cannabis with the total dry weight being not less than 28.46kg.

However due to the immaturity of some of the plants, the courts could not determine an appropriate yield amount.

“The varying maturity of the plants infer that this offending was not in isolation but there was an intention to continue into the future as a part of ongoing drug trafficking business,” said the prosecutor.

“This is a significant amount of cannabis and the damage drugs have on our community is well known and the safety of the community is paramount consideration.”

Nikoline Gjergji was also charged along side her husband, but her charges were discontinued in June.

28.46kg of dried cannabis was also found in the Torrensville shed.

The court heard the couple were renting a home in Adelaide after travelling over from Albania to visit family at the time of their arrest.

“They’ve spent the last six years travelling back and forth to spend time with their son and his family,” Jon Lister, for Gjergji said.

“He is deeply ashamed and embarrassed about his offending and he now finds himself now having to pay an enormous price for being involved in this offence.

“It means it will be very unlikely he will be allowed back into Australia again or visit his son and grandchildren to whom he is so devoted.”

Mr Lister could not instruct the court on how or why his client had been growing the cannabis, but submitted to the court his client had the intention to sell the drugs.

“He underestimated the seriousness of his offending and the severity,” Mr Lister said.

“He had not got to the stage of working out how to traffic the cannabis, but he does not shy away from that he intended to do so.”

Gjergji will be sentenced at a later date.