Two workers jailed three years over 46,894-plant Isis Central cannabis farm
Two workers recruited from across Australia were each sentenced to three years in prison for producing cannabis at a 51-greenhouse operation at Isis Central, where police had seized 46,894 plants and seedlings worth an estimated $234.5 million in October 2022. Twelve other people were charged in the raid.
🇦🇺 Isis Central, Bundaberg Region, Queensland · Queensland, Australia
On 5 October 2022 detectives from the Drug and Serious Crime Group, with Bundaberg, Wide Bay and Childers police, raided a property beside the Bruce Highway at Isis Central and found 51 greenhouses, each about 80 metres long, holding 46,894 cannabis plants and seedlings with generators and hydroponic equipment.[1][2]Police arrested twelve men and two women, aged 25 to 52, at the site, each charged with producing and possessing cannabis and possessing items used in production, and said all the plants were destroyed and the equipment dismantled.[1]
In the Bundaberg District Court on 31 August 2023, Duy Khanh Bui, 30, and Simon Tran, 51, pleaded guilty to producing a dangerous drug and were each sentenced to three years in prison with convictions recorded and 330 days already served, making them eligible for parole in October and December 2023.[2]The court heard the two men were recruited with twelve others from across Australia, repaired the house and built the greenhouses, and were paid a wage of $3,000 a month with no share in the crop’s profit.[2]The crop before the court consisted of 43,246 potted plants weighing 14,339 kg plus 16 kg of seedlings, which the prosecutor said could be worth more than $100 million at full maturation.[2]
Photos and video
Rows of potted cannabis plants inside one of the 51 greenhouses at Isis Central.Photo details
The court heard 43,246 potted plants weighing 14,339 kg plus 16 kg of seedlings, against the police total of 46,894 plants and seedlings; the report uses the police total.
The prosecutor valued the crop at more than $100 million at full maturation against the police estimate of $234.5 million; the report uses the police estimate.
No outcome for the other twelve people charged in the raid was reported in the opened sources.
Police said possible links to a similar large grow at Boondooma raided in August 2022 were under investigation; no later link was reported.
A Creswick father has admitted feeling shame and humiliation after a fire in his shed exposed a hydroponic cannabis set-up. The Courier reports that he was spared a conviction in a court matter over the fire and the crop.
A Lavington woman was sentenced after grabbing a senior constable to hinder her partner Jarrah Maksymow's arrest and possessing cannabis. She pleaded guilty to hindering police and drug possession and was ordered to do 60 hours of unpaid work plus pay a $250 fine.
On 21 September 2026 the County Court jailed Duy Duc Dao and Quoc Vinh Tran, both 36, for 12 years and six months each for growing 8,805 cannabis plants at Toolamba. The crop weighed 5,180 kg. Each must serve eight years and four months before parole.
Charged 2Plants destroyed 8,805Cannabis 5.18 tPrison 12 years 6 months
Melbourne County Court sentenced Vietnamese citizen Thang Quoc Bui, 49, to 22 months' imprisonment on 11 September 2026 for cultivating a commercial quantity of cannabis after police found 269 plants weighing 189.38 kg at a Marungi St house on 26 November 2025; he must serve 12 months before parole eligibility.
