Hull Crown Court jailed Thu Van Nguyen, 46, and Thang Van Nguyen, 44, for two years each after they admitted producing a controlled drug at one of the biggest cannabis factories ever found in the city.[1][2] Officers discovered almost 1,700 plants with a reported street value of 1.5 million pounds inside the former Hardaker’s fireplace showroom on Beverley Road.[1][2]
The factory was sniffed out by PCSO Pat Cook, who noticed the distinctive smell of cannabis while on patrol with his colleague Jon Hammerton.[1][2] After the officers filed intelligence reports, the force helicopter Oscar 99 flew over the building and confirmed a significant heat source inside.[2] Officers raided the building on 23 June.[2] They found a sophisticated set-up with industrial lighting and ventilation spread over three floors.[1][2]
Both men were arrested at the scene, one of them hiding behind a false wall, and police believe the pair had been hired by gangmasters and were living inside in squalid conditions with only a mattress on the floor.[2] Nine rooms were being used to grow cannabis and a further five rooms stood ready for the operation to expand into, at a set-up cost believed to reach 100,000 pounds.[2] Sergeant Jim Clough of the Riverside neighbourhood policing team said the industrial operation would undoubtedly have supplied the streets.[1][2]
