Duo threatened to cut man's ears off, trial hears

Brothers Sokol and Amarildo Rranci were standing trial at Nottingham Crown Court

Two brothers trafficked a man from abroad to work for a network of lucrative cannabis farms across Yorkshire and the East Midlands, a trial heard.

Sokol Rranci, 28, and Amarildo Rranci, 30, threatened to cut the man's ears off with scissors, the jury at Nottingham Crown Court was told.

Both have admitted conspiracy to produce a class B drug but deny a modern slavery charge.

Sokol Rranci also denies a firearms offence.

Prosecuting, Roger Smart said Sokol Rranci, of St Anne’s Drive, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, had paid for a Greek national to fly to the UK in September 2021.

The man, who cannot be named, believed he was being given a job in a Greek restaurant in Sheffield.

Instead, he was taken to Amarildo Rranci’s home in Langsett Road, Sheffield, and 11 days later was transferred to another property at Queens Court, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, Mr Smart said.

Here, he saw cannabis growing in a bedroom, the court heard.

Mr Smart said the defendants hit him, asked him to hand over his mobile telephone and threatened him with a pair of scissors, saying they would cut his ears off.

They made him telephone his family and demanded money from them, threatening to kill him, jurors were told.

'Frightened'

The brothers told the man to get into a car to go to another address and, while in the vehicle, Sokol Rranci threatened him with what appeared to be a handgun, the court heard.

They stopped at a BP petrol station in Mansfield, where the man managed to escape and the brothers drove off, he said.

The man told someone behind the till that he needed the police, the jury heard.

This employee later told police he could see "how frightened he was", Mr Smart said.

He said police searched the Mansfield property and found the first "cannabis grow".

A further 13 cannabis farms were also discovered in Barnsley, Doncaster, Hull, Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire, Worksop in Nottinghamshire and Withernsea in East Yorkshire.

Mr Smart said the largest of these, at Sculcoates Lane, Hull, had a yield worth about £1m.

When police went to arrest Sokol Rranci at his Worksop property in March 2022, they discovered false ID documents and £25,000 in cash hidden behind a bath panel, Mr Smart said.

Amarildo Rranci, now of Ferry Road, Scunthorpe, was arrested at an address in Worsbrough, Barnsley, on the same day, the jury heard.

Both men deny arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view to exploitation.

Sokol Rranci also denies a charge of possessing a firearm or imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

The trial continues.

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