Pair are jailed for growing cannabis

8:52pm Monday 28th April 2008

Two men, arrested after an anti-terror investigation, have both been sent to prison for producing skunk cannabis.

Ifzal Rafiq, 22, of Bradford Street, Keighley, and Mohammed Tahir, 30, of Parson Street, Keighley, were arrested under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act in the wake of failed car bombings in London and Glasgow.

The pair were arrested for giving false details and over suspicions about the delivery of a large number of gas canisters to an address in Preston.

They later admitted cultivating cannabis at the property, where 175 plants were found in one room, and a further 15 plants and 62 cuttings were also found.

Rafiq was jailed for two years and Tahir for two years and four months.

Police were tipped off by the owner of a company which produces the canisters, after he became suspicious about the Preston deliveries.

The company took an order for 15 canisters three days before the bomb attack in London on June 29, 2007, which involved a car containing propane gas cylinders.

Roger Baldwin, prosecuting, said the incidents in London, and Glasgow the next day, had alerted the company boss. The pair were arrested on July 3.

Miss Charlotte Worsley, for Rafiq, said he came from a law-abiding family. Mr Abraham Verghese, for Tahir, said he wanted to apologise to the court. In passing sentence, Judge Stuart Baker, said it was probably the case others were more extensively involved than the defendants.

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