A drug dealer who stole almost £3,000 worth of electricity to power the cannabis farm in his loft has been spared jail.
Moemen Al-Seddeik, 37, watched YouTube videos to learn how to tamper with his electricity meter so it didn’t record any power being used.
But the farm was uncovered after police raided his home in Southview Road, Southwick – which he believes was the result of a complaint made by another dealer who was angry he didn’t want to sell cocaine for him any more.
Prosecuting at Lewes Crown Court yesterday, Ava Zoccola said the raid happened on 6 September 2023, when Al-Seddeik was at home with his girlfriend and housemate.
As well as the 49 cannabis plants in the loft, police seized containers with 25.3g of cocaine in them, scales and bags, large bags of cannabis, phones and £9,805 in cash.
They also found fans, lighting, humidifiers and buckets of fluids used to cultivate the seven to eight-week-old cannabis plants, which experts estimated would have been worth £15,200 to £43,660 when fully grown.
Ms Zoccola said: “The addresses’ electricity meter had been bypassed, or tampered with. EDF Energy confirmed the defendant had been a customer from February 2020 until the day of the raid.
“The installation had been interfered with so that any electricity use was not recorded. A total of 12042 hours of use, worth an estimated £2,715.18.
“Al-Seddeik was interviewed on 7 September. He gave a full account. About the electricity, he said he was good at these things and had used YouTube to do that.
“He said he began working for a man called Ali by selling cocaine for him and Ali would call him and tell him where to go, paying him £1-2,000 a week.
“He had told Ali he didn’t want to do it any more and Ali had threatened him, saying he knew where his girlfriend lived.
“He believed he was arrested because of threats made by Ali.
“All of the plants were his. He had started to grown them three months ago but had not sold any. He had been trying to fund leg surgery for his father.”
Sentencing, Recorder David Brock said the three-year custodial sentence he was imposing on Al-Seddeik was at the very top of the range new sentencing guidelines allowed to be suspended.
He said it was only because of his lack of convictions that he was prepared to do this.
He said: “You are 37 and you were prior to this offence a man of good character with no convictions recorded against you.
“For that reason and for that reason alone I can suspend the sentence I am going to pass today.
“this is your last chance. Any offences in the next three years will result in you serving this sentence.”
As well as the three-year sentence suspended for three years, he also required Al-Seddeik to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work – the maximum amount.
No order for costs was made because a proceeds of crime application is pending.
And what sentence is you tube having for broadcasting videos on how to commit crime in the UK. Why has the judge not mentioned this… This is the reason people do this stuff, because they are shown how to by massive US corporations who couldn’t care less about society