10 face jail for cannabis farm at Glynmill, Merthyr Published duration 14 June 2016

image copyright Wales news service

Ten men are facing jail for turning a travellers' camp built with a £3m Welsh Government grant into a cannabis farm.

Half of the 24 caravans at the newly-renovated Glynmill camp were used as cover for a drugs-growing operation worth up to £340,000 a year, Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court was told.

The site had been given a grant for improvements to a community hall, toilet blocks and for landscaping.

The Welsh Government said it would not comment while the case continued.

The men are due to be sentenced on Tuesday.

'Joint enterprise'

The court was told more than 100 police officers and 30 vehicles raided the farm, which was described as an "organised group" of 10 men, eight of whom lived there.

They found 453 plants on the site which housed up to 120 people.

Ieuan Morris, prosecuting, said: "Cannabis plants of various stages of growth were recovered as was the paraphernalia associated with large scale production.

image copyright Wales news service

"This was a joint enterprise, each playing a part and each knowing the nature of the operation."

Andrew Jakes, 36, Adam Jones, 23, Barry Jones, 34, Brinnie Mochan, 18, Peter Gilheaney, 18, Steven Francis Gilheaney, 33, Martin Gilheaney, 27, and Peter Patrick Gilheaney, 27, of Glynmill Caravan Site, admitted conspiracy to produce cannabis and cannabis production.

Edward Probert, 27, of Pontypool, and William Henry Williams, 20, of Merthyr Tydfil, also pleaded guilty to the same charges.