Nelson cannabis farm gang jailed

1:12pm Saturday 10th May 2008

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SIX Vietnamese workers who ran a cannabis farm from a house in Nelson have been jailed.

The group also ran houses in Bolton and West Yorkshire in a £1million network.

The four men and two women were jailed yesterday after pleading guilty to conspiracy to produce the class C drugs.

Five of the defendants had come to the UK from Vietnam illegally, and the judge recommended they be deported after serving half of their sentences.

Officers carried out the raids on houses in Nelson, Bolton and West Yorkshire in November and seized 1,400 cannabis plants, along with growing equipment and a "substantial" amount of money, Bolton Crown Court heard. The electricity supply to the properties had been diverted so it would not register on the meter, with the cost to utility companies estimated at £400,000.

Police said the plants would have had an estimated street value of £1m.

Organiser Viet Anh Nguyen, 21, was jailed for four years and Tai Lam, 33, was sentenced to 18 months.

Tu Van Nguyen, 36, Son Thai Nguyen, 38, Ly Hug Tran, 26, and Huong Thi Nguyen, 23, were all given 12-month sentences.

All apart from one of the women, Huong Thi Nguyen, are illegal immigrants. They had all lived at a house in Weaver Chase in Bolton.

Detective Chief Inspector George Fawcett, of the drug unit based at Bolton, said: "We have successfully disrupted organised crime and have seized thousands of plants and tens of thousands of pounds worth of equipment.

"Just because these particular cases have concluded today, it does not mean the end of the matter. We will continue to crackdown on people involved in the cultivation of cannabis."