German court jails two Albanians caught at the cannabis plantation in Künzell

The District Court of Fulda in Germany has sentenced two 32-year-old Albanian citizens to two years and three months in prison each; they were arrested while working at an illegal cannabis plantation in the Künzell area.

The defendants admitted during the trial that they had worked as gardeners in the premises adapted for cultivation from January of this year until April 2026, when they were arrested by the police. During the search of the rented business premises, law enforcement officers seized 703 cannabis plants and professional equipment for growing them.

During the hearing, the defendants’ defence claimed that the two Albanians had accepted the job because of severe financial difficulties in their homeland and that they represented only the lowest link of a wider criminal network. However, the judging panel decided to accept the prosecution’s request for a custodial prison sentence.

The presiding judge stressed that the decision aims to discourage this new criminal business model and to send a clear preventive message, despite the fact that the network’s main leaders remain unidentified. The German court’s decision has not yet become final.