POLICE have released the first photo of a huge cannabis factory that was operating a short walk away from the force's Durranhill HQ in Carlisle.

The image shows just some of the 1,172 cannabis plants which were being grown at the Telford Road warehouse, where a gang set up their operation after renting the unit under using a false name.

The city’s crown court heard that the illegal operation was discovered by chance in early July last year after an electrician was sent to the industrial unit involved to investigate an electricity supply problem.

One of the three men found working at the warehouse - arrested as he tried to flee from police - was jailed for 20 months.

Thirty-one-year-old Hai Dimh claimed that he was forced to work at the unit “under threat of death.”

But a jury rejected his claim, convicting him of conspiring with others to produce the Class B drug.

Prosecutor Arthur Gibson had earlier outlined how police - tipped off by the electrician and a landlord’s agent - arrived at the Durranhill warehouse on July 4 and discovered a massive commercial cannabis farm.

Inside the building was a marquee-style tent, sheltering cannabis plants at various stages of maturity.

“It’s estimated that the potential yield of the plants would have been in the region of 221kg, with an estimated street value of just over £200,000,” said Mr Gibson.

“That is £200 per crop... it was clear that this would not have been a one-off crop.”

The warehouse itself was located a short walk away from the city’s Durranhill Police HQ in nearby Brunel Way, the court heard.

The jury was told that two other men - including a man who had hired the warehouse under a false name - have already been prosecuted for the cannabis production operation. Dimh, from Oldham, claimed he was snatched from the street in Manchester and forced to work at the warehouse, which was equipped with living quarters that included a kitchen, beds, and food supplies.

Police also found the building’s electrical wiring was redirected to power heating and lighting for the plants.

Dimh said the farm’s bosses threatened to kill him if he tried to leave. Yet he had two mobile phones with him when arrested and, said Mr Gibson, one of the doors inside the building could easily be opened from inside.

The jury also heard that in 2017 the defendant, in the country illegally and likely to be departed when released, was prosecuted for an almost identical offence but cleared by a jury.

After the Carlisle jury convicted him, Recorder Richard Archer told the defendant: “It’s clear you were not the organiser of this operation.

“But you played a part in it.”

The judge said the defendant’s claim that he had been “forced” to take part in the cannabis growing operation was not credible but he accepted Dimh’s role was limited. “It’s incomprehensible that you didn’t know that this was cannabis production on a massive scale,” said the judge as he passed sentence.