Vietnamese illegal immigrant produces cannabis in Barnsley

TWO Vietnamese illegal immigrants have been jailed for a total of four and a half years for their part in producing £320,000 of cannabis in South Yorkshire.

Tran Thang, aged 32, and Tai Van Nguyen, 38 were both producing commercial quantities of the drug on separate sites in the county, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

Mr Thang came into the country in the back of a lorry and had lived in the cannabis factory above the Iron Works gym on Chippinghouse Road, Heeley, for three months, Louise Gallagher, prosecuting told the court.

Police carried out a raid on the premises in March this year and found Mr Thang hiding with an accomplice among 697 cannabis plants worth £200,000.

Thang was arrested but his accomplice, who claimed to be about 15 or 16, was taken by the local authority - but later escaped.

In a police interview Thang said he was paid £1,000 a month to care for the plants.

He told officers he communicated by laptop, had food delivered to the door and he never left the factory.

James Baird, defending, said: "He was the gardener of the plants and cared for this crop.

"His motive was to send money back to Vietnam where he has a wife, two children, elderly parents and a sister."

Summing up, Judge Roger Keen QC, said: "Gardeners are normally paid a pittance and taken advantage off. That isn't the case here, you were receiving a living wage which you were sending back to Vietnam so in my judgement the appropriate sentence is two years and six months."

Mr Nguyen was producing cannabis from the village of Thurgoland, Barnsley, Ms Gallagher told the court.

In police interview he said he had paid gangmasters £14,000 to get him into the country and was working at the factory to pay them back.

Neighbours became suspicious of him in April this year and called the police to his house in Copster Close in the village.

When they arrived at the house they heard a motor running and found Nguyen nearby. Inside police found a "substantial and professionally stored cannabis set up," Louise Gallagher said.

Four hundred plants, worth £120,000, were found filling every room of the house.

Judge Keen QC sentenced him to two years.

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