Illegal immigrant jailed for cultivating cannabis

AN illegal immigrant who was installed as a cannabis 'gardener' in a makeshift drugs factory has been jailed for two years

Police raided a house in Cranford Drive, Hayes, where they found Diep Vu and rooms on two floors filled with around 200 cannabis plants, some up to six foot high, on September 12.

The 28-year-old later admitted he came to Britain illegally from Hanoi, Vietnam, via Calais where he had met a man who gave him a telephone number to get work on his arrival.

On Friday (16) Isleworth Crown Court heard that once in the UK he was taken to the house and told to water the class B drug plants twice daily and he would be paid when it was harvested.

Gavin Fitzpatrick, prosecuting, said: "Officers forced the door, a sheet of plastic had to be torn down, and once they had done so, they could see Mr Vu on the staircase. He was arrested. Officers could smell cannabis and there were a number of rooms being used as a factory."

Vu had headed for Britain seven months earlier in search of a job to earn money for his wife and child who remain in Vietnam.

But on the journey, which he undertook alone, he was targeted by drug dealers and took the job as gardener, he said, not knowing what cannabis was or that it was illegal.

Aurindam Majumdar, defending, said: "He was taken to the house and told he would be provided with accommodation and food, and when the crops were harvested he would be paid for his involvement."

Judge J.A Denniss said: "The operation in which you were involved was a sophisticated operation. You cultivated cannabis and the potential profits from cannabis farms like this are extremely high and the damage which can be done by the drug is considerable, clearly a deterrent sentence is called for."

The judge sentenced Vu to two years in prison and ordered him to be deported on his release.