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Two years for'cannabis gardener'
A VIETNAMESE gardener who spent thousands of pounds illegally travelling to Britain has been jailed after being discovered working as a cannabis "gardener".
A VIETNAMESE gardener who spent thousands of pounds illegally travelling to Britain has been jailed after being discovered working as a cannabis "gardener".Thoa Nguyen (34) was found asleep in the kitchen of a house in Beechwood Close, Dogsthorpe, Peterborough, on Wednesday, January 9, after an early-morning police raid.
The house had been converted into a cannabis factory, and he had been working as a gardener, watering the 200 plants for his bosses.
On Friday, he appeared at Peterborough Crown Court, and pleaded guilty to cultivating the class C drug.
Prosecuting, Craig McDougall told the court that Nguyen had travelled to Europe after hearing of the chance of a better job and quality of life.
But after failing to find a job or house when he arrived in November, he was forced to take a position in the cannabis factory.
Mr McDougall said: "When he arrived there were no plants there, but someone soon delivered them.
"He was being paid 300 per month to look after the plants, and was also given free rent and food. But he was instructed to never leave the house, and to stay in there permanently."
The plants were crammed into four rooms, each modified with high-powered electric lights to provide ideal growing conditions for the plants.
When the factory was discovered the plants were not ready to be harvested – but if they had reached that stage it was estimated that they would have been sold for up to 68,000.
The electricity supply had been bypassed so the house never received bills for the lighting – but Detective Constable Shanie Nayar, who was leading the operation, said the hacked wiring had turned the house into a severe fire hazard.
Defending Nguyen, Caroline Allison said he had only moved to Britain to try to help his family.
She said: "His family is from a poor area of Vietnam, and he just wanted to send cash back.
"He lives with his elderly parents and siblings, and spent 20,000 Euros (about 15,000) travelling to get here.
"He has expressed his apologies, and said if he had known what he was getting into, he never would have come over here."
Recorder Sean Enright sentenced Nguyen to two years in prison.
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