Vietnamese teen who ran cannabis factory from Dumbarton flat to be sent back to Saigon after being caught with £100,000 of dope
Nguyen Van Hung Cannabis Farm
Nguyen Van Hung Cannabis Farm
A VIETNAMESE immigrant will be sent back to Saigon after being caught with £100,000 of dope.
Nguyen Van Hung was sentenced to 38 months after being found with a flat full of cannabis plants.
The 19-year-old had been lured to Scotland on the promise of a better life.
But he ended up living in the kitchen of a flat in Dumbarton as the gardener for a cannabis crop.
Vietnamese gangs have been exploiting their own people to expand their drug business, duping them into tending the plants. Police are hoping the sentence will send out a message to others.
Inspector Neil Smith said: "It's a substantial sentence and we would hope it acts as a deterrent to those considering taking part in this sort of activity."
There had been a cannabis pong on Dumbarton High Street for weeks before police found the second-floor flat's door unlocked. Inside, they found 7kg of herbal cannabis and more than 100 plants.
Van Hung escaped through a window but an officer commandeered a bike and chased him down.
He admitted growing the drug.
Tom Brown, defending, told the town's sheriff court: "He was coming for a better life. He understood he would be able to get a job here.
"I think he spent almost all of his savings getting here. He knew no one at all. He didn't even know exactly where he was. He felt trapped.
"He got nothing out of this other than being able to live there and some food.
"He has been taken advantage of but knows what he did is serious."
Sheriff Derek Hamilton said: "It's clear that this is a large-scale, significant operation and your circumstances are unfortunately no different from many other people who find themselves being used as gardeners."
Sheriff Hamilton recommended Van Hung be deported after his sentence.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk 25/06/2014
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