Tanweer Razak, Piotr Izbicki, Rukhsar Bashier and Ajaz Arif all deny conspiring to produce cannabis.

Four men are accused of involvement in a plot to produce cannabis after more than 1,100 plants with a potential value of up to £250,000 were found in four Middlesbrough homes, pictured above the cannabis farm found in the house on Roworth Road.The crops were seized in a series of police raids on Roworth Road, Arlington Road, Ambleside Grove and Glenfield Drive in October last year.
Prosecutor Sarah Mallett said the properties were bought to set up sophisticated factories which suggested commercial cultivation and national distribution of the drug. Tanweer Razak, Piotr Izbicki, Rukhsar Bashier and Ajaz Arif all deny conspiring to produce cannabis.Defence barristers made closing speeches yesterday, saying there was a lack of evidence of knowledge or agreement in a conspiracy, or linking the accused to the cannabis.Taxi driver Razak, 28, is alleged to be the unscrupulous, money-motivated “mastermind” or “top man”. His counsel, Caroline Goodwin, said if he was the brains of the outfit, he did it in “the most cack-handed way”.The Crown say Izbicki, 26, acted as a go-between and was heavily involved in the day-to-day management of the properties.His barrister David Lamb said the builder was just a worker who thought he was doing a fair day’s work “in the wrong place at the wrong time”.One “Mr Tai” was said to be “a dark figure lurking behind the conspiracy” who exerted a grip on others, threatened Izbicki and abused Arif’s trust.The prosecution said Arif, 33, bought all four homes in 2007. Arif said he knew nothing of the cannabis production until he was arrested.
Peter Sabiston, for Arif, said he was “given a few bob to tell a few white lies on a mortgage application form and ask no further questions”.
It is alleged that 34-year-old Bashier was an investor financing the illicit enterprise.Stan Reiz, for Bashier, said he was a credible, respectable, successful businessman and the only evidence against him was five banker’s drafts said to be deposits for the properties.
Judge Michael Taylor is to sum up the case against the four, all from Reading. On his direction earlier in the trial, the jury acquitted a fifth defendant, Tokeer Akhtar, 27, also from Reading.
Proceeding