20/11/2007 00:00:00
UK: Cannabis gang are jailed for 27 years
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A GROUP of Vietnamese nationals are beginning jail sentences totalling
27 years after cannabis farms across the North-East were raided.
The gang of 12, included one woman and two juveniles, who cannot be
named, admitted conspiracy to cultivate cannabis when they appeared at
Teesside Crown Court yesterday.
The court put the value of the cannabis seized from addresses in
Newcastle, Sunderland, Lanchester, Sacriston, Bowburn, Ushaw Moor,
Sherburn Road and West Cornforth in County Durham as £220,000, but
Durham Police said they believed the gang was responsible for
cultivating cannabis to the value of £1.5m.
Officers seized more than 4,000 exhibits including hoses, heating
equipment, gardening gro-bags, bamboo shoots and lighting, from the
addresses.
Dozens of police officers carried out simultaneous raids at 9pm on
Thursday, May 3 on a converted barn at Hunters Hall, Lanchester, and
three houses at Ushaw Moor, Sacriston and Bowburn.
About 1,000 ‘skunk’ plants were found in a converted barn in the
Lanchester raid and between 700 and 800 plants were seized from the
other properties – a three-bed semi-detached house, a three-storey house
and a terraced house.
Detectives and their uniformed colleagues also seized a number of
vehicles and a large quantity of farmed cannabis, believed to be ready
for sale, and thousands of pounds in cash.
Detective Constable Mick Elsom, one of the officers who led the
investigation, said: “The houses were completely blackened out at the
windows.
“The gang members would tell neighbours they worked nights and did not
want to be disturbed during the day.
“After the initial raids we discovered more cannabis farms, one at a
house in Hollyhurst Road, High Heaton, Newcastle, and one at Wentworth
Terrace in Sunderland, as well as other properties in County Durham.
“The gardening equipment we seized would have been perfect for a
champion tomato grower, but was being used for more sinister purposes.”
In the houses raided police discovered a sophisticated set-up, with an
irrigation system, reflective foil on the walls and ventilation ducts
sliced into the ceilings. The electricity meter had also been bypassed
to tap into the large amounts of energy needed to power the lamps
without raising suspicion from suppliers.
DC Elsom said electricity supplies were diverted to heat the cannabis,
and the hoses to water them were operated from the baths in the rented
properties.
“Without the ventilation systems working the smell from the cannabis
factories would have been a give-away. The smell was overpowering when
we entered the properties,” he added.
The police officer in charge of the raids, Detective Superintendent Ken
Donnelly, said: “The public need to be our eyes and our ears when we
target operations such as this one.
“If they see people coming and going at unusual times we would urge them
to contact us. That does not mean we would immediately act without any
justification of course.
“But we would rather suspicious behaviour was brought to our attention
than for the public to turn a blind eye.”
Sentenced yesterday were Nam Ah Ho, 25, Tung Hoo Ang, 19, Ling Tung Le,
18, Huy Quang Nguyen, 23, Hung Van Nguyen, 26, Hung Nguynen, 25, Son
Tien Pham, 25, Hai Ven Tran, 28, Phan Trung, 25, Nyan Thang Cao, 18, and
two juveniles.
http://www.journallive.co.uk/
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=13020
Author:
The Journal via UKCIA
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