Three illegal Albanian immigrants maintained a house with drug plant crops.
The raid on the house led officers to an industrial-scale drug factory, with almost 2,000 plants worth more than £800,000, which had been set up by a criminal gang at a unit in Dunston, Gatehead.
The three Albanians were jailed by Newcastle Crown court And warned that they would be deported after serving their sentences.
From their Whatsapp conversations, officers also obtained an address on Lincoln Road in Sunderland where around 17kg of packaged cannabis worth between £43,300 and £65,500 was located.
The men told the court they were remorseful and were acting under instructions from other superiors.
