Cannabis factory bosses jailed for operations in Surbiton, New Malden, Worcester Park, Walton, Coulsdon, Croydon and West Molesey (From Your Local Guardian)

Cannabis factory bosses jailed for operations in Surbiton, New Malden, Worcester Park, Walton, Coulsdon, Croydon and West Molesey

3:33pm Thursday 9th September 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(4)

Six Vietnamese men and women who ran cannabis factories in Surbiton, New Malden, Worcester Park and Walton have been jailed.

Houses in Selbourne Avenue, Surbiton, Barnsbury Close, New Malden, Cuddington Avenue, Worcester Park, Cavendish Walk in Epsom and Hurtwood Road in Walton were all raided and found to be stuffed with cannabis plants.

Police also seized 10 cars, 18 laptops and £15,000 in cash.

An English speaking Vietnamese person with a fake passport would rent a house, drill holes in the walls and run high powered lighting into every room, often bypassing the electricity meter to get free power, Guildford Crown Court heard last week.

A member of the gang would then live in the property to water and feed the plants. A crop worth £50,000 could be grown and sold in about 13 weeks.

In May, Surrey Police raided cannabis factories in Croydon, Coulsdon, West Molesey and Isleworth which led them to the gang.

Hung Huu Nguyen, 34, Mai Nguyen, 26, Hung Phi Nguyen, 44, Van Dam Do, 22, My Hyen Luong, 24 and Hai V Tran, 33, all admitted conspiracy to produce cannabis at a hearing at the court on Friday, September 3.

Mai Nguyen and Hung Huu Nguyen, who rented the properties, were sentenced to 30 months in prison.

My Hyen Luong, Hung Phi Nguyen and Van Dam Do were sentenced to 26 months.

Hai V Tran was sentenced to two years.

Detective Sergeant Graham Wall, of Surrey Police’s cross border investigation team, said: “These individuals were responsible for keeping the factories running on a day-to-day basis, looking after the plants and ensuring they could be harvested for sale on the streets.

“I would encourage any members of the public with any suspicions that a property in their area is being used for such purposes to report it to police so we can investigate.

“This is big business and we are determined to stop it.”