Immigrants Jailed For ‘Cannabis Factory’ Work

Three Vietnamese illegal immigrants were each jailed for two years yesterday after helping to run a cannabis factory capable of producing up to £1 million worth of drugs every two months.

The High Court in Glasgow heard that Chinese gangsters had rented a house to set up the factory. They used the three Vietnamese, who paid US$6,000 (about £3,000) each to enter the UK hidden in the back of lorries, to work in their farm.

After they were found guilty yesterday, the trial judge, Lord Uist, told Tu Trinh, 26, Long Pham, 22, and Quang Nguyen, 21:

“No doubt there were others for whom you were working who stood to gain much more than you did in this operation, but you were the farm labourers who carried out essential work to enable this operation to get under way.”

Lord Uist also recommended that the three be deported back to Vietnam at the end of their sentences.

The trio were convicted of being concerned in the supply of cannabis between 7 January and 12 January in a house in Elder Crescent, Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire.

During the trial, the jury heard of a Chinese man called Jian He, also known as Xiao Fan Yang, 25. He is said to be one of the main targets of a police campaign to clamp down on cannabis farms run by Asian crime gangs, called Operation League.

At the High Court in Glasgow last month, Yang admitted producing cannabis at four rented houses in Cambuslang and Glasgow. He is to be sentenced later.

The Scotsman revealed last month how an initial trial against the Vietnamese trio collapsed after the judge became concerned that the court interpreters were failing to do their job. Thousands of pounds of public money was wasted in the process.

The trial was later revived, with new interpreters in place.