Two jailed after police raid on £525,000 cannabis farm in Dundee

Two illegal Vietnamese migrants who set up a £525,000 cannabis cultivation in a Dundee house have each been jailed for 40 months.

Ban Van Nguyen, 54, and Long Van Le, 33, were caught tending the crop in Dighty Gardens during a police raid.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard the cultivation in the three-bedroom house was worth four times the value of the property itself.

Both men admitted being concerned in the supply of cannabis at the property on 16 January.

The court was told that 510 plants, with a potential value of £382,500, were recovered when the house was raided.

The duo had also harvested more than 14kg (30.8lb) of cannabis with a value of £143,060 and were drying it for onward sale when officers forced their way in.

Fiscal depute Duncan McKenzie told the court: “Most rooms in the property had been converted into a cannabis cultivation.

“Their DNA was found on various items throughout the property.

“Neither have any right to remain in the UK.

“Both are being sought by the Home Office in relation to their immigration status.”

Sheriff Tim Niven-Smith said that a background assessment had confirmed that neither of the duo had been the victims of human trafficking.

He said: “They are often subject to threats and intimidation and are often little more than slaves for their ultimate masters – you are not in that position.”

The sheriff said he accepted that both men had been brought to Scotland to act as “gardeners” and were not the senior figures in the cannabis supply chain.