Jail for Peterborough man who tried to hide on roof as police raided cannabis factory

Donatas Sungaila, 35, thought he had out-smarted the Neighbourhood Support Team officers who arrived at his house in Star Road on 21 February to carry out a drugs warrant.

As some of the team attempted to gain entry to the house, Sungaila snuck out onto the metal roof over the garden in a bid to escape arrest.

Unbeknown to him, two officers were waiting at the back of the property and had spotted him on the roof. They kept out of view and watched him as he made his way in a ‘crab-like crawl’ towards them in his neighbour’s garden.

Sungaila came face-to-face with the pair as he was just about to reach the edge of the roof and froze as the officers identified themselves as police.

Inside the house, the team found it had been almost completely converted into a cannabis factory, with 206 cannabis plants as well as harvested cannabis worth up to about £173,000.

The living room had been turned into a makeshift bedroom, while all three bedrooms upstairs had been used to grow the cannabis and the bathroom re-purposed into a fertiliser mixing, distribution and watering hub. All three external doors had been barricaded from the inside.

Sungaila was arrested and later charged with producing cannabis which he admitted in court last month (March).

Today (Monday, 19 April), he appeared at Peterborough Crown Court where he was jailed for one year and ten months.

DC Jacob Reeves said: “Not only is cannabis an illegal substance and is filled with all sorts of harmful substances and chemicals when it is harvested to be sold on, cannabis factories can turn over huge amounts of money for these criminal groups and often bring violence and other forms of criminal activity which we don’t want in our communities.

“We work hard to intercept organised crime groups who are operating in our cities and use a range of police tactics, however information from the public can sometimes be invaluable, therefore I encourage anyone with information to get in touch.”