Two cannabis farmers found in squalid conditions sent to prison
TWO Vietnamese cannabis farmers who were found living in “squalid conditions” in County Durham have been jailed.
Muoy Van Tram, 28, and Nam Dan Nguin, 23, were arrested on June 7, last year, after being found at a “large cannabis farm” that had an estimated yield of up to £240,000.
Durham Crown Court heard the pair were “trafficked” into the UK and were “victims of modern slavery”, but have now been put behind bars and may be deported.
Joe Hedworth, prosecuting, said there was a “commercial volume of plants involved” and that both men had a “significant role” in the operation as they had an expectation of “significant financial
gain” and an “awareness of the scale of the operation”.
Both men appeared at the court on Friday to be sentenced for producing cannabis.
The court heard there were 330 plants at “various stages of growth” in the Stanley farm.
The court was told that Tram had “£40 to his name” and had only been in the UK a month before his arrest. Jamie Adams, defending Nguin, said both men were “victims of modern slavery” and said he was “watering and looking after the plants”.
“He was clearly under the direction and control of others, he had no influence upon anyone else”, he added.
Sentencing the men, Judge James Adkin, the Recorder of Durham, said the pair “must have been aware” of the scale of the operation and must have been “motivated by some reward”, likely a “reduction of a debt” they both spoke of.
Nguin was jailed for 27 months and Tram was jailed for 18 months.
Both men, of no fixed address, also face the possibility of being deported from the UK.