A MAN fed-up with the prices dealers were charging him for cannabis made his own “inept” attempt to grow the drug, a court has heard.Police raided the home of 33-year-old Oliver Nalis, in Gipsy Lane, Frostenden, near Beccles, on January 6 and found nine mature cannabis plants growing in a bedroom.

A MAN who was fed-up with the prices that dealers were charging him for cannabis made his own inept attempt to grow the drug, a court has been told.

Police raided the home of 33-year-old Oliver Nalis in Gipsy Lane, Frostenden, on January 6 and found nine mature cannabis plants growing in a bedroom.

However, he had not grown them properly, meaning that his project cost him more than if he had bought the drugs from dealers, Lowestoft Magistrates' Court was told on Tuesday

Mitzy Bond, prosecuting, said the bedroom also contained equipment used to grow drugs.

Nalis had tampered with his electricity meter, meaning he was using energy without paying for it.

But Mrs Bond added there was

no evidence that Nalis was produc-

ing the drug for anyone else.

Nalis pleaded guilty to producing cannabis, possessing 5g of herbal cannabis and abstracting electricity without authority.

Magistrates sentenced him to do 200 hours of unpaid community work and ordered him to pay �43 costs.

Calvin Saker, for Nalis, said: "He was fed-up with the high prices dealers were asking and felt he was being ripped off.

"He spent a lot of time and money trying to set up something that was a pretty inept effort.

"The plants were not growing correctly.

"They cost a lot of money to

produce - far more than he would have had to pay for the drugs in the first place."

The court was told that Nalis had now stopped using cannabis.

And Mr Saker said that his client had not taken a large amount of electricity.