The head of an organised crime group who ran a network of cannabis factories across the Midlands, North West and north Lincolnshire has been found guilty, following a National Crime Agency investigation.

Roman Le, 37, from Birmingham, headed a gang who operated at least eight farms in residential and commercial properties, as well as a storage facility housing both equipment and harvested cannabis.

Le sourced the properties by posing as property developer, buying or renting them. In some cases scaffolding was put up around the buildings, making it look like building work was taking place, to disguise the real use.

Le worked with co-defendants Yihao Feng, aged 29, from Manchester, and David Qayumi, aged 36, from Birmingham, to source and operate the properties.

Among them were a disused nightclub in Coventry, a former public house in Birmingham, and an old hotel in Lancashire.

Overall the farms were capable of making millions of pounds worth of cannabis.

Qayumi posed as a businessman, working with Le to buy, rent or sub-let the properties, while Feng acted as an 'operations manager' for the group, making sure the factories kept working and that what was happening inside was kept a secret.

Many of the farms were staffed by Vietnamese or Albanian illegal migrants, some of whom were likely being exploited because of their immigration status.

NCA investigators placed members of the gang under surveillance, watching as they visited some of the premises in question.

On one occasion officers witnessed Le park his Bentley Continental outside the former Big Bamboo nightclub in Coventry, heading inside.

The site was later raided by the NCA and West Midlands Police, with 1500 cannabis plants, worth more than £1 million, found spread across three floors.

Feng was arrested in September 2020 after he was stopped by police who pulled over his Maserati car. He had just visited the old Wellington Hotel in Clayton-le-Moors.

It was raided the next day and found to contain a cannabis factory with more than 300 plants.

The same day Feng was arrested, officers raided the old Queen's Head public house in Farm Street, Hockley, Birmingham, arresting six Albanian nationals who were operating the farm and seizing more than 300 plants.

NCA investigators later found the pub and surrounding land had been sold to a company controlled by Le.

Officers also raided a lock-up storage unit in Aston, Birmingham, which had been leased by Qayumi. They found equipment used to grow cannabis, including lighting units, carbon filters, nutrients, plant pots and grow tents.

They also found a number of empty suitcases, which had been used to transport cannabis, and a money counting machine.

All three men had previously been observed visiting the site by NCA surveillance teams.

Le was arrested at his home, an apartment in Essex Street, Birmingham, on 4 November 2020, which he shared with his girlfriend, Yihao Feng's sister.

Both Feng and Qayumi pleaded guilty to conspiring to produce cannabis, but Le denied the charge, claiming he was a legitimate businessman who had no knowledge that the properties he had interests in were being used for cannabis grows.

Following an eight-day trial at Birmingham Crown Court, on 5 June he was found guilty. Le was remanded in custody, and all three men will be sentenced on 4 July.

NCA Branch Commander Kevin Broadhead said: "Roman Le claimed he was a legitimate property developer, but in actual fact he fronted an organised crime gang capable of producing millions of pounds worth of cannabis.

"While he and his co-conspirators oversaw these operations, buying and renting properties on behalf of the growers and reaping the profits, the actual people put to work in them were often exploited migrants who had been smuggled into the UK.

"Working with policing partners we were able to prove these men were involved a sophisticated criminal enterprise."

The NCA investigation was supported by West Midlands Police, Lancashire Police, and Humberside Police.