A Drugs baron involved in a Bradford-based plot to run cannabis factories across West Yorkshire made at least £250,000 from his criminal empire, a Court heard.

Chi Lam Hoang, who is serving a five-and-a-half-year jail sentence, has been ordered to hand back £45,000 of his ill-gotten gains or spend an extra 18 months behind bars.

Hoang, 57, was brought from prison to Bradford Crown Court yesterday for a Proceeds of Crime Application to confiscate his assets.

It is believed the money to be seized is tied up in his home at Highfield Crescent, Pudsey.

The judge, Recorder Dean Kershaw, told Hoang it was “extremely sensible” of him to agree to the benefit figure. He gave him six months to pay up.

The Crown originally put Hoang’s criminal profits at almost £400,000.

Nick Askins, for the Crown, told the court Hoang was prepared to agree the revised sum.

Hoang and other gang members were jailed in May last year for their roles in operating seven cannabis factories across the Bradford, Leeds and Huddersfield areas.

The six-strong gang was arrested in March, 2008 after officers spotted a man wanted in connection with a cannabis factory in Girlington, Bradford, and followed him to a house on Claremont Road, Wrose.

A search revealed fertilisers, compost, electrical items and rental agreements and rent books for a number of other addresses. They were searched and found to be cannabis factories.

After the sentencings, Detective Inspector Neil Benstead, head of the Bradford District Drugs Team, said: “This was cultivation on a commercial scale, with massive profits for those at the top of the organisation.”