Jail for Oxford chef who had cannabis bunker under shed

The entrance to the subterranean bunker behind Akil Budini’s family home in Coleridge Close was concealed by a garden shed. Beneath a trap door was a set of steps leading to the 6m by 4m room.

When police officers raided the property they found almost 6kgs of harvested and bagged-up cannabis together with de-humidifiers, fans, scales and other equipment required for growing the drug on an industrial scale.

Inside the cannabis bunker beneath the back garden. Almost 6kgs of cannabis was found in bags Picture: CPS (Image: CPS)

Prosecuting, Oliver Wellings told Oxford Crown Court on Friday (October 13) that the 5.8kgs of cannabis had a wholesale value of around £29,000, but would have been worth as much as £73,000 when broken down into smaller, ‘street deal’ amounts.

“This was a relatively sophisticated enterprise, committed over a number of years, which would have led to dozens of kilogrammes of cannabis being produced for the street,” he said.

Detective work by the police uncovered receipts in Budini’s name for skip hire and construction materials. The invoices went back to 2016, when it was thought construction work on the bunker began.

A set of steps led down to the bunker in the back garden Picture: CPS (Image: CPS)

Mr Wellings said that the owner of the rented semi-detached property had been given notice of ‘some works’ being done at the house, but nothing on the scale of an underground bunker. There is no record of planning permission having been granted by the city council.

Later, it emerged that Budini had been approached by others, not named in court, about building the bunker beneath his garden.

He had been in Albania for a year from spring 2017, when from receipts it appeared some of the construction work had taken place.

The entrance to the bunker was hidden by a garden shed Picture: CPS (Image: CPS)

The man, a chef who had worked his way up from the bottom in restaurant kitchens, was paid £500 each time cannabis was stored at his property.

Budini, of The Garth, Yarnton, pleaded guilty last November to being concerned in the supply of a class B drug. Resolution of the case has been delayed over arguments about his knowledge of the scale of the cannabis operation and his involvement in it.

The matter was listed on Friday for a judge to hear evidence and decide on the defendant’s role in the operation.

However, Mr Wellings said a realistic view had been taken by the defence. It was accepted that the 5.8kgs of cannabis found during the house search was not the only crop, he told the judge.

Akil Budini's mugshot Picture: Thames Valley Police (Image: Thames Valley Police)

Mitigating, Tim Bass said Budini had left his native Albania at 13 in the late 1990s, fleeing civil unrest. He went first to Greece then, in 2001, arrived in the UK when he was still only 16.

Despite missing important years of his schooling, he had worked hard and risen through the ranks at kitchen restaurants. He was currently working as a handyman and supporting his family financially.

Judge Michael Gledhill KC jailed Budini for 40 months, saying the matter was so serious that only an immediate prison sentence was appropriate.

He said: “From the outside of those premises it looked like a perfectly ordinary lawn. The entry was concealed by an everyday type of garden shed, so that access could be gained without anybody realising what was happening.”