Greenhithe gang member ordered to pay back £25,000 for role in cannabis growing empire
A GREENHITHE gang member who was part of a mob which made £120m farming cannabis has been ordered to pay back just £25,000.
A GREENHITHE gang member who was part of a mob which made £120m farming cannabis has been ordered to pay back just £25,000.
Hai Ban Tran was a key player in the so-called ‘Dang Dynasty' which specialised in growing some of the most powerful strains of pot ever produced.
The Park Cliff Road resident was part of a vast crime empire whose members ploughed their profits back into their native countries.
Shell companies were used as fronts for cannabis farms while equipment and plants were also sold to DIY skunk growers.
One farm in South Woodham Ferrers, Essex, was the biggest ever found in Europe with 8,000 fully grown skunk weed plants under cultivation.
Tran was a director of two of the gang's companies that dealt with the import and delivery of drug accessories.
The 33-year-old received four years in prison after being convicted of conspiracy to be concerned in the production of cannabis but is already free on licence because of the time he spent remanded in custody awaiting sentence.
Tran is one of 18 gang members jailed for a total of more than 100 years following a series of trials that concluded last year.
At the Old Bailey on April 23, he was ordered to pay back £25,166 after the court heard this was the extent of the profit it could be proved he made.
Tran has assets worth nearly £125,000 in the UK alone.
Police have mounted an operation to trace the profits of the gang's activities but it is likely only a tiny fraction will ever be recovered.
It is believed most of the cash has been spirited away into foreign bank accounts and legitimate businesses abroad.
Judge Richard Hone QC said: "The confiscation order is limited to the benefit of £25,166."
He ordered Tran hand over the cash within six months or face a further 18 months in jail.
http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk 25/04/2013
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