POLICE officers found a cannabis farm at a house in Lye that could have produced drugs valued at more £150,000, a court was told.

Officers visited the property in Vicarage Road to investigate reports that a man had been spotted in the area armed with a knife and when they arrived they found the back door of the house wide open and thought there might have been a burglary - Patrick Sullivan, prosecuting, told Wolverhampton Crown Court.

But when they went inside they found 180 cannabis plants were being cultivated and just minutes later Klejvis Plangaj arrived on the scene.

The 28-year-old illegal immigrant had been looking after the plants - having lived in the house for four months - the court was told.

Mr Sullivan said the plants were being cultivated in the cellar and in two upstairs rooms where the officers found a bed and a TV.

Plangaj, now of no fixed address, admitted producing the controlled drug and he was sent to prison for 20 months.

Recorder Justin Wigoder told him it was clear he was being paid by others higher up the drug chain to look after the growing plants.

He said Plangaj had held a job after arriving in the country illegally - adding that he then opted to work at the cannabis farm in a role that would have made a great deal of money for other people.

Cathlyn Orchard, defending, told the court Plangaj would be deported when he had completed his prison sentence.

She said he opted to work as a gardener, looking after the cannabis plants, because it would have put more money in his pocket - and she concluded: "Clearly somebody was going to make a substantial profit from this but it would not have been him."