A VIETNAMESE man has been jailed for 18 months and faces deportation after being caught during a police raid on a cannabis factory.

Illegal immigrant, Cuong Nguyen, 43, was arrested at a house in Shaftesbury Road, Bournemouth, on January 23. He admitted cultivating cannabis.

Jenny Rickman, prosecuting at Bournemouth Crown Court, said five rooms contained 323 cannabis plants, adding: "The rooms had been adapted for growing; halogen lights were suspended from the ceilings along with fans in each room. All the windows were covered and the electricity supply had been tampered with to by-pass the meter. There were no signs of permanent residence. Nguyen was what has become known as a gardener'. These are people from Viet-nam employed to maintain and cultivate cannabis plants for further distribution."

The crop could have gener-ated up to £250,000 a year with Nguyen earning about £1,500 a month the court heard.

Fern Russell, defending, said Nguyen had paid 20,000 dollars to travel to the UK and was told he would work in a bar or restaurant. He had only been in the property a fortnight, having sold his home to fund the three-month trip to England, travelling by lorry.

"He came here as a last resort and did not want to engage in cannabis cultiv-ation," added Miss Russell. "He will be deported to Viet-nam with enormous debts."

Sentencing Nguyen, Recorder Paul Dugdale said: "Cannabis can have dangerous consequences. It is often mistakenly called a soft drug.

"The sort which comes from these factories is stronger than in the past and can be more dangerous. Everybody involved in production needs to know the courts will meet this behaviour with long prison sentences."

10:04am Saturday 16th February 2008

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