Tetbury cannabis farmer has £10,140 of illegal profits seized (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Tetbury cannabis farmer has £10,140 of illegal profits seized

9:57am Thursday 1st November 2012 in News

A TETBURY man's mobile cannabis farm and drug dealing business earned him almost £150,000, a judge has ruled.

Robert Migel-Lopez, 36, of Dobson Court, Chipping Street, grew cannabis in the back of his camper van. He also supplied the illegal 'high' drug NRG2.

In August he was jailed for 40 months at Gloucester crown court after he admitted producing cannabis and two charges of possessing NRG2 with intent to supply.

Back he returned to court yesterday for a Proceeds of Crime hearing which ruled he had made £149,878 and that he has assets of £10,140 - including the camper van - which Judge Jamie Tabor ordered be seized from him.

Migel-Lopez's partner, Suzanne Seer, 21, from Dursley, appeared alongside him. She had admitted being concerned in the supply of cannabis and received a suspended jail sentence in August.

Judge Tabor ruled she had profited to the tune of £86,095 but accepted that she has no assets available for confiscation. He made a nominal confiscation order for £1 but warned her that if she comes into money through a lottery win or some other windfall the police will pursue her for the £86,000.

When the pair were sentenced in August Julian Kesner, prosecuting, said a Highways Agency patrol came across a Ford Focus car on the hard shoulder of the M56 motorway in Cheshire on March 10, 2011.

Migel-Lopez was in the driver’s seat with his head in hands saying 'Oh my god, the pain.'

Police later found a carrier bag in the passenger footwell which contained bags of 1,002 grams of Class B drug NRG2. Mr Kesner said this had a street value of £20,040.

When interviewed by police, Migel-Lopez said he was a courier who was taking so-called ‘legal highs’ from Bolton to Gloucester.

On March 5 this year, police went to the car park at the George Inn, Cambridge, Glos, where they found a camper van and a Vauxhall combo van with Migel-Lopez and Seer, of Tilsdown Close, Dursley in the front.

Mr Kesner said officers saw Migel-Lopez take a packet from his pocket, put it down the back of his jeans and slip it down his trouser leg. He attempted to eradicate the substance by rubbing it with his foot into the ground.

He was arrested, the material was salvaged and later found to be NRG2.

The camper van, which belonged to Migel-Lopez, was searched and officers found enough NRG for 4,020 ‘street deals’ with a value of £84,259.

The rear of the camper van had been converted into a cannabis farm with 20 plants, oscillating fans, lights and transformers. Analysis revealed a yield of 176 grams of cannabis from the plants with a street value of £1,760.

Seer was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, to run concurrently on each charge she faced. She was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.