A man trafficked to the UK who tended a Carlisle house cannabis farm with the potential to produce almost £250,000 of the drug has been jailed.
Police officers attended the address on Crummock Street, off Wigton Road, on Friday, February 17.
A total of 312 cannabis plants were found in four grow rooms across the first floor and in the attic, Carlisle Crown Court heard today.
Each room contained specialist equipment to assist growth of the criminal crop. And scores of immature cannabis plants were also stored in a nursery under the stairs.
As police had knocked on the door, 32-year-old sole occupant Cuong Nguyen was attempting to leave through the back of the property, but he then co-operated and went with officers.
Nguyen, of no fixed address, had been living on the ground floor in conditions that were not good, and was in possession of £80 he was said to have won at a Newcastle bookies.
He admitted production of cannabis which, a police drugs expert concluded, could potentially have weighed in at up to 24,780g, and been worth between £82,600 and £247,800.
Defence barrister Anthony Parkinson told the court Nguyen had arrived in this country two years ago.
“He moved to the UK with a view to obtaining a better life for himself. He agreed to discharge a debt of £40,000 in return for him being conveyed into this country on the back of a lorry,” said Mr Parkinson.
“He was put immediately to work in the North East, he believes. A few days before he was arrested for this offence, he was transported to Cumbria to continue that work.”
Nugyen’s intention when released after serving half his prison sentence was to seek asylum in the UK and pursue legitimate work. However, Mr Parkinson said the defendant accepted his future was uncertain.
Recorder Kate Bex, jailing him for 17 months, said: “What the officers found was clearly a relatively sophisticated and professionally run cannabis farm.
“There was food in the kitchen and it is clear that you were able to come and go from the property. There is no evidence you had any operational or management function.”
