GARDENER' Viet Dinh Dang

A VIETNAMESE man who was caught when police raided a Bournemouth cannabis factory has been jailed for two years and faces deportation.

Viet Dinh Dang, 35, admitted producing cannabis on December 29 last year.

Prosecuting at Bournemouth Crown Court, Clifford Grier said police had found 181 cannabis plants in four rooms when they raided a property in Comber Road.

"The address was being used as a fully operational cannabis factory with halogen bulbs suspended from ceilings, fans and electric condensers," he said.

"The windows were covered to avoid light and the electric had been tampered with to bypass the meter and avoid detection."

Police estimated that the illicit crop could have yielded £70,000 every 12 weeks. The raid took place just days before Dorset police launched Operation Dismantle, which aims to tackle drug supply and reduce drug related crime.

In his defence, the court heard that Dang had fallen prey to organised crime gangs following a traumatic upbringing.

In November last year a drug gang had asked him to work at the Bournemouth property, offering him £350 a month to tend and water the plants.

When police swooped, Dang hadn't received any financial reward for one month's "gardening" work.

The court was told that he hadn't initially realised what he was doing was illegal but had then chosen to turn a blind eye.

But Recorder Lorraine Morgan said: "Anyone stepping through the front door must have known; it would have been obvious.

"To say that he was unaware of what was going on when he went there is something which I can attach little weight to.

"This was part of a well organised and, if it had succeeded, profitable commercial enterprise."

Through an interpreter, she told Dang: "I accept that your role was that of the gardener or caretaker.

"There is nothing to suggest that you set up this enterprise or were going to profit to a greater extent from the profits."

She recommended that Dang be deported following his release from prison.

Earlier a 17-year-old Vietnamese youth, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, received a 12-month detention and training order for being involved in the production of cannabis.

The teenager was arrested following a raid at a cannabis factory in Latimer Road, Bournemouth.

3:06pm Saturday 23rd February 2008

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