Pair used heat-seeking drones to find cannabis farms and 'assembled a team' to rob them

Two men have been convicted of being members of a gang which used heat-seeking drones to identify houses in Nottinghamshire where there were cannabis grows and stole more than £250,000 of the plants. Following a two-week trial at Nottingham Crown Court, a jury found Dichrije Elliel and Andrew Thomas guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery.

The pair - Elliel 24, of Tanners Mews, Deptford, London, and Thomas, 25, of Campbell Square, Northampton - had denied the charge. But having heard all of the evidence, the jury convicted them.

Now they and four other men - Addil Elmi, 24, of Buchan Road, Nunhead, London; Golam Yackobi, 19, of Brambles Farm Drive, Uxbridge; Donnell Quarry, 24, of Langston Hughes Close, Lambeth, London; and Khalid Omar, 23, of Montague Road, Uxbridge - who have all already pleaded guilty to the same charge will be sentenced in the new year.

The trial heard how the group employed “scouts” to find premises where the illegal enterprises had been set up and who sent footage back to the leaders in London who “assembled a team” to burst into the properties and steal from them.

But a neighbour alerted police that one such home was being broken into in the early hours of the morning and officers caught a number of men.

Opening the trial two weeks ago, Stuart Lody, prosecuting, said: “These two men are members of an organised crime group based in London which specialises in robbing cannabis growing facilities. They were part of a professional and sophisticated organisation who used “scanners” as you will hear about in messages, which were basically scouts in Nottinghamshire looking for properties where it seems likely cannabis is being grown.

“How they spot these is by putting up aerial drones with heat-seeking cameras which can ‘zero in’ on the property and footage is sent back to London.

“If the cannabis had been grown to full bud the price we are talking about is in excess of £250,000 so would have been pretty lucrative business indeed.”

The prosecutor said Nottinghamshire Police's investigation began when officers were called to an address in Birding Street, Mansfield, at around 4.30am on Monday, May 6, this year. He said a neighbour dialled 999 after being woken by “a commotion” coming from next door and, believing the property was being broken into, called the police, who arrived.

Mr Lody played police body worn footage to the jury of five women and seven men. It showed Yackobi climbing out of the bathroom window, falling, and being arrested. On the clip, an officer is heard to say to one of the other defendants who was Tasered: “What are you doing, robbing the grow?”

Mr Lody said: “(Before this happened) one or two other properties were visited and ruled out by the group which had been assembled in London and who had travelled up to Nottinghamshire in convoy in two cars up the M1.

“Thomas and Quarry managed to get away (from Nottinghamshire) in a white Vauxhall Zafira on a false number plate. Thomas was the driver and had got down the A1 and on to the A5 in Northamptonshire where, following a chase at speed, it was stopped. Mr Thomas was dragged out of the car and handcuffed.”

The prosecutor said the Vietnamese gardener found in the Mansfield property was also arrested, charged, and served a prison sentence. He gave evidence during the trial.