Illegal immigrant jailed over £183,000 cannabis factories
DRUGS RAID: Cannabis growing operations were discovered at properties in the Pembroke Dock area.
DRUGS RAID: Cannabis growing operations were discovered at properties in the Pembroke Dock area.
INFORMATION discovered when police raided a cannabis factory in Pembroke Dock led police to another one in Monkton, a court heard on Friday.
And inside 34 Ramsden Court officers found 571 plants capable of producing cannabis with a street value of £183,000.
They also found 24 year old Tang Nguyen, who had been smuggled into the UK via France.
Nguyen admitted producing a controlled drug and was jailed for two years and two months.
Swansea crown court heard he would be deported back to Vietnam on his release from prison.
Kevin Jones, prosecuting, said four rooms and an attic space had been turned over to the growing of cannabis plants.
There was also a sophisticated lighting system and an air filtration unit.
In addition, the electricity supply had been bypassed.
Mr Jones said Nguyen told police he had been appointed as a gardener to look after the plants.
He said he had been there for three months and had never left the house, although police found fresh vegetables.
Nguyen's barrister, Kate Williams, said he was at the bottom of the chain.
"He knew what he was doing but clearly there were others involved," she added.
The judge, Mr Recorder H J Furness, said police had uncovered "a very significant attempt to produce cannabis in vast quantities."
He ordered the destruction of the cannabis plants and all the equipment.
http://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk 22/06/2014
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