Hamilton hash grower is sent to jail

Oct 1 2009

AN illegal immigrant was sentenced to 40 months’ imprisonment last week after pleading guilty to running a cannabis farm in a semi-detached bungalow in Hamilton.

At Hamilton Sheriff Court last week, Son Hoang Nguyen (40), from Vietnam, was jailed after he admitted being concerned in the supply of the class-C drug between June 1 and October 15, 2008.

Co-accused Nhu Phen Phan’s not guilty plea to the same charge was accepted by the Crown.

Nguyen had further been charged - along with 49-year-old Phan - of producing the drug at the Galston Court house between the same dates. However, not guilty pleas to this charge were also accepted by the Crown.

Nguyen and Phan were arrested during a police raid on the property, near Eddlewood, last year.

During the bust police found more than 100 plants, scores of seedlings and drug paraphernalia.

Police statements for the prosecution initially stated that the total worth of the operation was around £73,000.

The operation was described as “sophisticated” and characteristic of other drug ventures run by Vietnamese and Chinese crime groups.

However, a report by an expert submitted by the defence suggested that the median value of the operation was more likely to be £55,280, which fiscal-depute Jacqui McGarrity accepted.

However, the report concluded that the methodology and equipment used in Galston Court was the same as that used in larger-scale operations based in a factory setting.

Nguyen’s solicitor, Marco Guarino, stated that his client unlawfully arrived in the UK in February 2006 and worked in a London restaurant.

After acquiring debts, Mr Guarino said, Nguyen was offered a gardener’s job in Scotland, which he accepted.

However, Nguyen claimed that he only became aware of the illegality of his gardening duties in Galston Court when he became increasingly isolated, with food brought to him daily, before being arrested in the raid.

He stated that his client missed his family and wished to be deported back to his native country.

However, as deportation papers had not yet been served, Sheriff Danny Scullion felt it would not be competent for him to deport Nguyen.

Sheriff Scullion said: “Having regard to the circumstances of this case and of the personal circumstances of the accused, no disposal is appropriate other than imprisonment.

“The house, within which you were involved in the offence, had certain equipment which showed a certain level of sophistication, and there were various materials to assist horticulturally in the production of this drug.

“This is similar to numerous other cultivation sites used by crime groups.”

Sheriff Scullion went on to discuss the equipment that had been used to bypass electricity and help power the gear needed to sustain the plant life.

He added: “While I have full regard to the agreed value, this operation is relatively large.

“From other cases, the appropriate starting point for gardeners in these operations is four to five years. That is the type of situation this court is dealing with.

“I reach the view that if convicted after trial, the appropriate sentence would have been four years.”

Nguyen was sentenced to 40 months in prison, which will be backdated to October 20, 2008.

Nguyen and co-accused Phan had also faced a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice by claiming false identity. Their not guilty pleas to these charges were also accepted by the Crown.