Police found three Vietnamese men and more than 1,000 cannabis plants locked inside an empty shop a short distance from the town police station on Commercial Street, Maesteg, on 11 December 2012.[1] Officers discovered 1,034 plants spread across six growing rooms, with pots, fertiliser, tenting and lighting powered by stolen electricity.[1] A later local account confirms the same former Family Value building on Commercial Street made headlines in 2012 when police found an illegal electricity supply and a large cannabis grow there.[2]
Huong Van Nguyen, 29, and Phung Duw Nguyen, 31, admitted producing cannabis at the sophisticated factory, which the court heard could have netted more than £650,000 per crop.[1] The third man, Thanh Van Nguyen, 22, denied the charge and said he had been in the property only a day after being promised legitimate cook and cleaner work, but a jury convicted him after a day-and-a-half trial.[1]
Sentences
Judge Recorder Geraint Walters jailed Huong Van Nguyen and Thanh Van Nguyen for three years each and ordered Phung Duw Nguyen to serve two years and three months.[1] The judge said the trio, all brought to Britain illegally and of no fixed abode, qualified for automatic deportation on release.[1] The men had been employed as gardeners watering the crop by hand because there was no hydroponic system, and officers found a small living area on the building top floor.[1]
