A 24-YEAR-OLD Lye man caught growing cannabis worth £51,000 to clear his £35,000 drug debts has been jailed for 27 months.

Camran Hussain was cultivating 66 plants at his home in what was described by Wolverhampton Crown Court Judge John Warner as a "sophisticated operation."

He said it was an aggravating feature of the case that at the time Hussain had been the subject of a Community Order imposed for shoplifting.

The Judge told Hussain: "It is clear this was a substantial drug growing set-up."

And he ruled only an immediate jail sentence was appropriate for the offending.

Hussain, of Springfield Avenue, admitted cultivating the controlled drug, abstracting electricity to power the cannabis factory and possessing cocaine.

Howard Searle, prosecuting, said after his arrest Hussain told police officers he was hoping to be paid around £7,000 from the illegal operation to help clear his drug debts.

Robert Perry, defending, said Hussain would have received a "modest" cash sum for growing the cannabis despite the full value of the plants.

He told the court: "He needed money to pay off drug debts from his previous cocaine habit."