EXPOSED: Misery of the cannabis farms hidden in Scots suburbs
Crooks target homes in middle-class areas to grow huge crops of drugs worth millions
DRUG gangs in Scotland are targeting unsuspecting landlords in a multi-million-pound scam – by turning respectable rental properties into suburban cannabis farms.
Posing as innocent couples looking to rent a home, criminals are signing up to lease houses and flats in middle-class areas on the outskirts of towns and cities.
As soon as they collect the keys, the gangs fit the properties with high-powered heating and lighting equipment and begin to cultivate huge crops of cannabis.
All too often, the quiet privacy of suburbia offers the perfect cover for criminals to hide their lucrative but illegal harvest.
This week, however, police will mark a significant victory in their battle against what is becoming a major area of activity for organised crime – as a gang member who turned rented homes into drug farms is brought to justice.
Vietnamese national Manh Van Bui is due to be sentenced on Friday for his part in a ploy that saw cannabis plants worth hundreds of thousands of pounds grown in a string of ordinary-looking rented properties.
In a scam that will horrify any landlord who rents out their home in good faith, Bui posed as a family man looking for a place to live with his wife, even using fake passports, to persuade three different owners to lease him properties: a small flat above a shop, a house in a quiet cul-de-sac and a detached family home.
In April 2019, Bui and a woman contacted a landlord in Falkirk through Gumtree – a website for classified adverts – and asked for a viewing of a flat above a shop in the town.
Posing as husband and wife, and using the fake passports as identification, the couple agreed to pay £1,000 a month in rent.
However, six months later, when a fire broke out at the flat, police discovered it was stuffed with expensive lighting and fan equipment installed to help grow 131 cannabis plants found there.
The flat was empty, with officers believing it had been left in a hurry. However, they found DNA on a toothbrush and cigarette butt left behind – which would later provide vital evidence in the case against Bui.
Undeterred by the fire and the loss of his crop, Bui contacted another landlord through Gumtree in August 2020 and arranged to rent a house in Fernieside Gardens in the Moredun area of Edinburgh. This again was quickly converted into a large cannabis farm.
Bui was spotted turning up ‘multiple times’ in a taxi and was also seen at a nearby B&Q store buying cables, plant feed and joinery equipment.
In September 2020, he planned to expand his operation. Along with a woman posing as the mother of a young child, he agreed to rent a detached home in Currie, an upmarket suburb of Edinburgh, from a university professor.
However, Bui was eventually caught when a concerned neighbour noticed the front and back doors of the £250,000 house were left open for days at a time.
The neighbour – who did not want to be named – told The Scottish Mail on Sunday how he had become suspicious. He said: ‘I thought something was going on when the house was rented out.
‘The blinds were always drawn and people coming and going were always wearing masks.
‘I saw the doors were lying open and the place was deserted so I phoned the landlord. All the lights were on when I went upstairs and could see the doors were ajar, and there were plants everywhere.
‘The police took all the plants away and the detectives were there all night guarding the house. The people renting gave the show away by keeping the doors open – I don’t know what they were thinking of.’
Evidence at the house linked all three properties to Bui, who was arrested in January 2021. In total, cannabis plants worth £668,560 were discovered at the three rentals.
Bui, who is being held at HMP Addiewell, West Lothian, appeared at the High Court in Glasgow last month and admitted producing cannabis at the three addresses. Several charges
All the lights were on and there were plants everywhere
relating to other addresses and a charge related to supplying cannabis were dropped.
Last night Police Scotland pledged to do everything in its power to tackle illegal drugs.
Detective Sergeant Mark Seymour said: ‘On Monday, October 28, 2019, a cannabis cultivation was discovered at Ladysmill, Falkirk, and officers began their investigation.
‘This led to further cultivations being discovered in November and December 2020 in Edinburgh, including addresses in Easter
Currie Terrace and Fernieside Gardens. Following an intelligenceled operation, Manh Van Bui was arrested in Falkirk on Friday, January 29, 2021.
‘We know the misery that drugs misuse can cause in our local communities and officers will continue to tackle these issues by using all resources and tools at our disposal to rid our communities of illegal drugs and the harm they cause.’
With the rise in cannabis farms, police have called on landlords to be careful vetting prospective tenants and for neighbours to be on the lookout for tell-tale signs.
The Crimestoppers charity advises landlords to beware of prospective tenants who cannot offer references from previous letting agents, or who offer to pay several months in advance – especially in cash.
Other red flags include tenants wanting to keep utility bills in the landlord’s name and refusing to allow inspections.
Neighbours are told to watch out for the distinctive sweet aroma of cannabis, frequent visitors at all hours, blacked out windows or vents, electricity meters being tampered with and high levels of condensation.
The latest case highlights the growth of cannabis farms in suburban houses, but follows an alarming rise in drug farms in properties in all areas of the country.
Last April in Kirkcaldy, a former Poundstretcher in the High Street was raided as part of Operation Pinnacle, set up to disrupt the supply of drugs across Fife. A £1 million cultivation was discovered and three Vietnamese men were arrested.
The following month, a few yards along the same street, another farm was found in a store unit vacated by WH Smith, as a result of which four Albanian men were arrested.
Elsewhere in Fife, a ‘significant’ cultivation was revealed following a blaze above an empty high street store last September.
In December, officers discovered a farm in a former stationery shop in the centre of Dunfermline after a
The detectives were there all night guarding the house
fire – a frequent danger in properties where cannabis-growing equipment is linked to dangerous or overloaded electrical circuits.
A section of Ayr High Street was closed off in January this year after police found yet another cannabis factory. Lithuanian Gediminas Petryla was jailed for four years after police raided the former commercial premises at 62-64 High Street and found him surrounded by cannabis plants worth more than £1.2 million.
There were 105 plants on the first floor and 218 on the second floor – along with a wealth of equipment including light boxes, water pumps and air filters estimated to be worth £115,000.
A separate cannabis-growing outfit was discovered in the building right next door. Guy Friedberg later admitted growing plants above his shop.
In Cowdenbeath, another large cannabis farm was discovered above the former G’s convenience store. Locals said a ‘strong smell’ of marijuana had been reported to the police months before a blaze in the Fife town last September.