Four men and two women who had been living in a house in Weaver Chase, Stoneclough, admitted conspiracy to produce cannabis and were jailed at Bolton Crown Court.[1] The gang’s sophisticated operation produced about 1,400 skunk plants a year with an estimated value of £1 million, grown in houses in Calvert Road in Great Lever and Whittle Grove in Bolton as well as in Burnley and Keighley.[1] Police also found extensive hydroponic cultivation equipment, £4,000 in cash and evidence of £5,000 transfers to Vietnam.[1]
The organiser, 20-year-old Anh Nguyen, was jailed for four years after the court heard he was paid £500 a month to visit properties and arrange tenancies, using a fake Czech passport and taking instructions in phone calls from a man in London he knew only as Mr Tung.[1] Nguyen had also played a part in a larger Newcastle operation that police smashed after raiding 11 addresses in the North East and seizing thousands of plants.[1] Tai Lam, 33, described by the judge as a manager, was jailed for 18 months, while Ly Tran, 27, Tu Nguyen, 35, Son Nguyen, 38, and Huong Nguyen, 22, described as gardeners, were each jailed for 12 months.[1]
Judge Steven Everett told Nguyen he played a sophisticated part in a sophisticated operation and was much closer to the top of the tree than the others.[1] He said the four gardeners had been exploited by people who used them to make enormous profits, leaving them with no option but to do as they were asked.[1] Huong Nguyen said she had been sent to England from Germany and faced rape and death threats when she tried to leave, while the gardeners said they were paid nothing beyond food and accommodation.[1] All except Huong Nguyen were illegal immigrants and were to be deported to Vietnam at the end of their sentences.[1]
