Urbane farmer jailed for growing tobacco

An Australian man has been sentenced to one year in prison for growing 35,000 tobacco plants in a leased building, according to an AAP Information Services report relayed by the TMA.

Evidence of his illegal crop came to light when the building caught fire in January.

The report said the crop would have yielded about 35,760 kg of leaf that would have been worth about A$2.2 million in potential taxes, though it wasn’t clear how these figures were calculated.

Twenty nine year old Abud El Hamid El Kerdi, of Victoria, pleaded guilty to two charges relating to the illegal production.

He said he began producing tobacco to pay off debts that he otherwise could not repay.

Judge Jane Patrick said El Kerdi should be jailed because of the amount of revenue the scheme could have cost the government.