(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Three men have been jailed after they were caught working as “gardeners” at an industrial-scale cannabis grow that could have produced between millions of pounds.
When police officers raided a warehouse unit at Station Mills on Station Road in Bradford last year, they uncovered a highly sophisticated operation involving more than 20 growing rooms in a basement area and over 3,000 cannabis plants.
Prosecutor Gabrielle Coates told Bradford Crown Court that the plants could have produced cannabis worth between £1.3 million and £3.7 million.
Where were the 3 people found?
As officers were searching the unit they were assisted by a police dog and Ms Coates said Hoang Anh Vo was found hiding in a cupboard while Pham Van Houng and Anh Tran were located hiding under a pile of rubbish.
She said the premises had living quarters, communal areas, beds and a cooking station with fridges and freezers.
“Within the basement, there were 23 rooms all used for the production of cannabis,” said Ms Coates.
“Each room had cannabis plants in varying stages of growth from seedlings to mature flowering plants. In total there were 3,068 plants.”
How long were they jailed for?
The court heard that the rooms were also equipped with lighting, transformers, filters and fans.
Tran, 29, pleaded guilty to a charge of producing cannabis at a court hearing back in January this year and today he was jailed for 31 months.
Houng, 36, and Vo, 41, were found guilty of the same offence following a trial and they were each jailed for three years.
'Helping to peddle that dangerous drug here in Bradford'
Judge Sophie McKone said all three men had played a very important role in the production of a dangerous drug.
“You were what we would call gardeners which is a very important role because without gardeners the cannabis plants would not thrive and thrive they did,” she said.
“The courts see on a regular basis the effects that cannabis has on those who take it and you were helping to peddle that dangerous drug here in Bradford.”
The judge accepted that the trio had played a lesser role and that the men had been approached for “the job” because others knew they were desperate.
Judge McKone said the operation had been capable of producing industrial quantities of cannabis for commercial use.
She explained that the men, who have been remanded in custody for 15 months, could soon be released from their prison sentences, but they could then be detained further for deportation back to Vietnam.