TWO men who transported scores of cannabis plants across Stoke-on-Trent have avoided an immediate jail sentence.

Shaan Karim, aged 23, of Sherwood Road, Meir, and Chad Dowdall, aged 20, of Star and Garter Road, Lightwood, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the production of class-B drug cannabis.

Their pleas were tended on the basis they transported the drugs on one night only.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard yesterday the pair used a Transit van to move plants from a house in Castlefield Street, Shelton, to a unit in Commercial Street, Burslem, on May 31 last year.

Karim was asked to move the plants by a man he owed money to. He enlisted the help of Dowdall, who thought he would be moving furniture. It was only when he arrived at Castlefield Street that he realised he would be moving cannabis plants.

The defendants were arrested at 6.40am on June 1. Police found 66 cannabis plants in the back of the van, 113 plants inside the house in Castlefield Street and 192 plants in the unit in Burslem.

Stuart Muldoon, mitigating for both defendants, said Dowdall's involvement was less than Karim's.

The judge sentenced Dowdall to eight months detention in a young offenders' institution, suspended for two years, with 200 hours' unpaid work. Karim was given a 12 month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with 250 hours' unpaid work.

Judge Robert Trevor-Jones said: "You were involved on the fringes of quite a commercial operation of the production of cannabis."