Man jailed for cannabis farm (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Man jailed for cannabis farm

4:26am Wednesday 19th March 2008 in

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A 28-year-old Vietnamese man is beginning a two-year prison sentence after a sophiscated cannabis farm was uncovered thanks to a tip-off from suspicious neighbours.

Drugs officers raided the four-bedroom detached house in View Road, Keighley, last December after neighbours expressed concern about lights being on all night and rarely seeing anyone coming or going.

Prosecutor Gavin Howie told Bradford Crown Court yesterday police found almost 400 cannabis plants with a potential yield of £60,000.

No-one was at the rented house, but neighbours contacted them two days later when Vam Thai and another man arrived at the property.

Although Thai made denials, forensic tests linked him to a lamp used to light some of the plants, as well as beer bottles found in the house.

Yesterday he pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis.

Thai's barrister, Jayne Beckett, said he had left Vietnam seeking a better life, first in Germany then the UK, and lacked the language skills to be involved in the organisation of the cannabis farm.

Recorder Christopher Williams made a confiscation order for the £1,315 Thai had on him when he was arrested.