Businessman jailed after police find cannabis farm in Perthshire flat

Fifty-six-year-old man is jailed after police find cannabis farm in a Coupar Angus flat

A four-bedroom flat in Coupar Angus, sub-let to four Chinese “students” for £120 a week, was subsequently turned into an industrial-scale cannabis factory which produced drugs with a maximum street value of more than £320,000.

Fifty-six-year-old Tim Chan, who had leased the property, which included a Chinese take-away on the ground floor, claimed he initially had “no knowledge” of the illicit cultivation taking place.

But he then received a text from his daughter, Rebecca Chan, who lives in the Coupar Angus area and had discovered what was taking place.

She threatened to go to the police unless he got the Class B drugs out of the premises at Kalray, in the town’s Athole Street, within a week.

He claimed he subsequently received threats to himself and his family, warning him “in no uncertain terms” not to tell the authorities what was going on.

He pleaded with her to give him two more weeks, by which time the crop would be harvested - and the occupants would be gone.

But a tip-off led to police raiding the premises and seizing more than 600 cannabis plants in various stages of maturity.

An illegal immigrant, who had been acting as “gardener” for the huge crop, was subsequently arrested after initially escaping from a rear window.

The major drugs haul led to Chan being jailed for four years when he appeared for sentence at Perth Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

The accused, who had taken over the lease of the flat - and Rudy’s Chinese Takeaway below - in August, 2012, admitted knowingly permitting the premises to be used to unlawfully produce cannabis between November 27 and December 16, 2012.

The court heard that the accused had returned in the summer of 2012 from a long period in Hong Kong and was running a Chinese restaurant in Wales.

The sophisticated set-up was discovered when his daughter, along with a tradesman, went to measure up the floor of the take-away for laminate on November 27.

She decided to have a look at the state of the flat above and discovered a metal ventilation pipe coming from one of the bedrooms, depute fiscal Lisa Marshall told the court.

On December 15, however, police swooped following a tip-off and threw a cordon around the premises.

The court was told that 673 healthy plants were seized. They had a potential illicit value of between £107,680-£323,040.

Solicitor David Sinclair said his client had initially run a profitable take-away in Coupar Angus from 2003-2008 but had then spent four years in Hong Kong.

On his return he managed the Jade Garden Chinese Restaurant in Llandudno but had always intended to go back to the Coupar Angus area.

He “unwittingly” entered into a deal to sub-let the Coupar Angus flat to a group of four Chinese students who were studying in Dundee.

“He had no knowledge of what was taking place,” claimed the lawyer.

Passing sentence, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said a custodial sentence was “inevitable”.

The accused’s silence on discovering what was described as a “significant operation” had led to suspicion falling on other people, including the owner of the property.

The sentence was backdated to December 11, when Chan, a UK passport holder, was remanded in custody for background reports.

•Yang Pin, who had been caring for the cannabis crop, was given two years and three months behind bars at the Perth court in March, 2013, for his part in the illegal operation. He was subsequently deported by the Borders Agency on August 2, 2014

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/businessman-jailed-after-police-find-4946625 09/01/2015