Dope Smoke

In a string of arrests, the latest, a Vietnamese man has being arrested by British police after a number of Cannabis farm were discovered in Swindon, UK.

Binh Nguyen received a 4 year prison sentence on the 5th of June, while his wife and 3 other men were sentenced on the 29th of May. The 43 year old man, whose wife escaped a jail sentence after the court had heard she had children aged 2 years and 8 months hold cried as he was sentenced.

Binh Nyugen was originally arrested last summer when police found a number of rented properties which had being converted into cannabis growing factories.

The prosecutor for Swindon Crown Court said

hundreds of plants were being cultivated in each of the properties by specialist hydroponics methods to increase the yields.

Nguyen had been responsible for organising the lease on houses in Haydon Street, Alexandra Road and Edgar Row Close, Wroughton, where cannabis farms were found.

The wholesale value of the yield at those properties was £18,500 at Haydon Street, £21,000 at Alexandra Road and £73,000 at Edgar Row Close.

At Mr. Nguyens home in Padstow Road, police found a range of equipment to grow the drugs as well as 88 bags of specialized fertilizer. When he was originally arrested he was carrying a bag of cannabis.

In Mr. Nyugens trial, he pleaded guilty to the cultivation of cannabis and possession with the intent to supply. The court heard in total he earned £189,990.53 but only had assets to repay £4,750.53.

Rob Ross, defending Mr Nyugen said his client had fully co-operated with police investigations.

“They are illegal immigrants. They were made in effect offers they could not refuse because they needed somewhere to live.”

Judge John McNaught said:

“A painstaking inquiry by the police revealed a network of houses in Swindon which had been adapted for the large-scale production of cannabis.”

“It is illegal and it is damaging to our society and it is the sort of organised crime that the courts in England will take very seriously.”

He jailed Nguyen for a total of 4 years and ordered that he pay £4,750.53 in the next 6 months or serve an additional 3 months in prison. The courts are also considering deportation.