'Audacious' Telford drug ring boss is found guilty
A Vietnamese man has with an address in Telford been found guilty of controlling a workforce of illegal immigrants as 'gardeners' in the cultivation of cannabis worth several million pounds.
Toi Van Le, 51, was convicted of nine charges of conspiring to produce cannabis between January, 2006, and May this year.
A jury cleared Van Le of a tenth charge at the end of a three-week trial at Shrewsbury Crown Court.
Sentence on Van Le was adjourned.
Van Le, of Spout Way, Malinslee, Telford, who also had addresses in Birmingham and London, was remanded in custody.
The defendant had earlier admitted one charge of conspiring to produce cannabis at an address in Stoke-on-Trent.
During the trial the jury heard that premises in cities and towns across the country were part of the 'audacious' drugs operation.
One was at an address in Lodge Court, Donnington, which was raided by police in March this year.
A search of another unit at Shropshire Storage on the Shifnal Industrial Estate revealed piles of cables, boxes of compost, numerous stacks of empty plant pots and metal tubing, which appeared to be part of a ventilation system, coiled garden hoses and a water butt – all equipment it was claimed was intended to be used to produce cannabis.
In February this year, a Transit van, known to have been hired by the defendant and another alleged accomplice, was located near Lodge Court and was also captured on CCTV at the industrial estate in Shifnal.
The jury was told that apart from the cannabis factory in Telford, the police inquiry linked Van Le to other operations – four in Stoke-on-Trent, two in the Birmingham area and others in Burton-on-Trent, Grimsby, Egremont in Cumbria and Newport in South Wales.
These included a former bank premises, a disused leisure centre and a former doctor's surgery, along with several terraced houses.
The police investigation involved several forces who carried out a series of raids and were involved in the painstaking analysis of CCTV footage, automatic number plate recognition information, mobile phone data and cell-site locations to identify the movement of individuals and vehicles, as well as some DNA and finger print evidence.
Van Le, who gave evidence through an interpreter, said he had been in the country for 26 years.
He said he earned money working in the clothes trade and cleaning and repairing houses and claimed his various cars had been borrowed by other people and he was not connected to any of the cannabis growing premises.
