Nov 27 2011 by Sarah Scott, Sunday Sun
FACE after face, these are just some of the migrants brought to our region to farm multi-million pound cannabis farms often in conditions compared to slavery.
Every week the court system in the North deals with men and women, predominantly from Vietnam, who have been involved with dope farms.
And a Sunday Sun investigation has revealed that during just the last five years the farms have produced dope with a street value of upwards of £15m. And after judges condemned the practice of bringing often unsuspecting migrants here to ‘garden’ the plants, a criminology expert told of the growing problem.
Mike Row, a criminology professor at Northumbria University, said: “There is a concern about human trafficking, which is a reasonably widespread problem, in terms of human trafficking and people being brought in under false pretences.
“In the context of people working in farming in various parts of the country, not just cannabis farms, there is a concern about people now being brought in and used in a modern day version of slavery.”
He also said in some situations passports can be taken from the migrants and they can be too scared to appeal to police for fear of deportation.
“Some of the gangs are deliberately keeping these people in fear. They are trafficked by these gangs and they are very much the victims. They could end up involved in various kinds of criminal activity and could find themselves up in court.”
Speaking at a recent court case at Newcastle Crown Court, Judge Guy Whitburn addressed the issue of migrants, and in particular Vietnamese migrants, working on these farms.
“There are 400 or more Vietnamese serving sentences of imprisonment in British prisons.
“It must be made clear it is an inevitable result of being involved in cultivating a highly sophisticated cannabis farm, that anyone caught doing it goes immediately to prison.”
Police found a substantial cannabis farm at a property on Newcastle Great Park, in Gosforth, Newcastle, with some 527 plants at various stages of growth in four bedrooms and a downstairs room.
Prosecutors said it had a potential yield of 17.4 kg, worth more than £100,000. The conversion of the house had also caused £3,000 of damage, the court heard.
Vu, 26, admitted being concerned in the production of cannabis and was jailed for 21 months. He will be deported upon release.
Judge Whitburn had previously said in August 2009 that the problem of Vietnamese-run farms across the region meant substantial sentences had to follow.
On jailing Hoa Nguyen in August 2009, a 34-year-old illegal immigrant from North Vietnam, who admitted being involved in cannabis production, Judge Whitburn said: “You were recruited by what is clearly a Vietnamese crime organisation that set up at considerable expense cannabis farms,” he said.
Nguyen was jailed for 21 months in 2009 after police arrested her after discovering a cannabis farm in a house in Fellview Court, Gateshead. She told police she had been recruited as a ‘gardener’ to look after the crop only days before.
Last week we told of trafficked Vietnamese father Tri Van Li who fled a huge drugs farm on Kayll Road in Sunderland after police raided the house and found a bumper crop of cannabis plants being grown in every room.
The 33-year-old Vietnamese national was jailed for two years when he appeared before Newcastle Crown Court for sentencing last week.
The judge heard how the dad-of-one had come to the UK with the hope of earning money to send home to his wife, but instead ended up growing drugs to be sold on our streets.
When police raided the rented house, in August, they found five rooms containing 489 cannabis plants, which if harvested and peddled by pushers, could have been worth £500,000.
In February 2009 Thian Nguyen, 35, was jailed at Teesside Crown Court for his role in professional pot factories in Middlesbrough.
More than 1,100 powerful “skunk” cannabis plants were found with a potential value of up to £250,000 as they were weeks away from production. If allowed to grow, the crops could have yielded a turnover of millions of pounds.
Judge Michael Taylor told Nguyen during the case: “Somewhere there is a Vietnamese gangmaster who is responsible for bringing people like you into the country and organising the labour within the cannabis farms.”
Nguyen, of no fixed address, admitted conspiring to produce cannabis. He was jailed for two years and the judge recommend that Nguyen should be deported after his sentence.
Police have said they believe the production of these cannabis farms are connected with wider organised crime.
DI Denise Wouldhave, of Northumbria Police, said: “Cannabis farms do not just occur in Northumbria, they are part of a national picture, and as part of the force’s determination to rid our communities of drugs we actively target those who are using their homes for growing large quantities of cannabis.
“The wholesale cultivation of cannabis is closely linked to organised crime and we are targeting the people behind these farms as well as the so-called farmers.
“As well as tackling and dismantling the cannabis farms we will do everything in our power to strip those responsible of their criminal assets using Proceeds of Crime legislation so that they do not financially benefit from their crimes.
“In addition, we are working with landlords and residents to educate them about the signs that properties may be being used for growing cannabis.
“Many farms are discovered through pro-active police operations and others through the vigilance of the public. I'd urge anyone with any information about drug use and supply in their community to contact police.”
There is a concern about people being brought in and used in a modern day version of slavery.
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