Drugs farmer caught growing £80k worth of cannabis locked up
A Vietnamese man who overstayed his UK visa was starting an eight-month jail sentence today after being caught tending a drugs farm with a potential yield of over £80,000.
Dang Nguyen was arrested when police swooped on a house in Station Street, Darlaston, and discovered 135 cannabis plants in various stages of cultivation, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
The 28-year-old had entered this country on a six-month visa in 2015 and never gone home, explained Miss Fiona Cortese, prosecuting.
Police visited the premises on December 10 after a report that the address had been burgled to find the damaged back door open, continued the prosecutor.
The officers discovered 46 plants being grown in the loft with a further 89 being cultivated in a hole in the wall.
The defendant not there when they struck but was detained the following day after he had been forced to smash a window to get back in because the locks had been changed while he was out following the earlier break in, said Miss Cortese who added: "This was rented accommodation and everything had been secure and in order when the landlord was last in the premises in November."
Mr Jamie Scott, defending, said: "He was watering the plants in exchange for free board and food. He had no knowledge of the wider operation. Now he just wants to serve his sentence and return to Vietnam."
Nguyen pleaded guilty to producing cannabis and was sent to prison by Judge Simon Ward who advised: "When you get back home I suggest you tell your countrymen what happened to you. It is just not worth coming to this country and end up like this."
