999 call led to Leeds cannabis farm

Police responding to a 999 call about suspicious noises in a house discovered cannabis plants growing with a potential street value of over £100,000.

They also found a frightened Vietnamese man hiding behind a bed at the house in Upland Crescent, Roundhay, who told them he had been forced to tend the plants to pay off a debt to the people who smuggled him into the UK.

David Lampitt, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court how Quy Van Nguyen said he had been living at the house for about 10 days before the police arrived and had tried to escape once but was caught and beaten.

He told police he was threatened he would be killed if he tried to do the same again.

Van Nguyen said he owed half of the £8,000 his journey had cost and had worked in Southampton, Birmingham and Manchester before he met two of the men who had arranged his trip and they told him he could pay off the debt by feeding the plants and changing lightbulbs at the house in Leeds.

Helen Cousins representing Nguyen said he had been in the UK about three years having been brought in by lorry and generally worked as a dish washer in hotels although he had no official papers.

He had been trafficked from Vietnam via Thailand, Russia, Germany and finally England looking for a better life. Once back at the house in Leeds he felt he had to do as he was told.

Mr Lampitt said when officers went to the house on November 30 last year no one answered the door and they forced entry.

They found 64 mature plants growing in the dining room, 34 mature plants in one first floor bedroom and 52 in another plus another 34 in the loft. There were also 85 seedlings in the house.

Nguyen was later bailed and failed to attend court. He was eventually arrested in Bury St Edmunds.

Nguyen, 25, who was helped by an interpreter, admitted producing cannabis and failing to surrender to bail. He was jailed for 12 months.

Judge Neil Clark said the potential yield of the cannabis was significant.

He accepted Nguyen was involved in it "by people who felt that you owed them money for having ensured your passage to this country" but said that was the risk when involved in illegal activities. Crime gangs often force so-called ‘farmers' to grow cannabis against their will.

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk 15/08/2013