THE landlord of a disused sports centre in Newport who turned it into a cannabis factory worth more than £1.5 million was ordered to pay back nearly £600,000.

Businessman Mohammed Nawaz allowed drug dealers to use buildings he owned across Britain and one was the empty Underwood Leisure Centre.

The 70-year-old property developer was jailed for seven years in 2017 after he was found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to produce cannabis after a trial at Cardiff Crown Court.

He leased the building to 48-year-old Abdul Manuf, of Alexandra Road, Stoke-on-Trent, who was sent to prison for three years and one month after he admitted the same charge.

At a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) hearing at Newport Crown Court, Nawaz was ordered to pay back £599,623.79 within three months.

Judge Neil Bidder QC told him he faces and additional six years in jail in default if he fails to comply.

Nawaz, of Broadfields Avenue, Edgware, London, will also have to pick up the prosecution’s trial costs of £12,401.96 and the £600 POCA tab, making a final legal bill of £13,001.96.

During the defendant’s trial, prosecutor Roger Griffiths said when the police raided Underwood Leisure Centre in August 2014 they found a cannabis farm that had produced an estimated yield of 132kg.

The plants were being grown in the former gym and badminton hall.

Mr Griffiths told the jury: “This was a large-scale production of cannabis, with a potential street value of £1.65 million.”

The court heard that more than 2,000 plants were seized with growing equipment such as lighting and fans worth up to £28,000 also uncovered by police.

Mr Griffiths said the building was one of four sites across the UK owned by Nawaz to be used in the drugs operation, with a second in Wales found at Miskin Community Centre in Mountain Ash.

Other buildings owned by Nawaz were found in Grimsby and Leicestershire.

He had leased three of the buildings – including Underwood Leisure Centre – to Manuf, a taxi driver by trade.

The court heard that he had driven individuals involved with the drugs operation to locations “on behalf of others”.

Martin Huseyin, mitigating for Nawaz during his sentence hearing, said: “He has mental health problems that are varied and not just anxiety.

“These are long-standing problems and he was given psychological counselling. He will be isolated and will become a sad and lonely man in jail.”