Chinese gardeners admit cultivating £70,000 worth of cannabis

4:30pm Monday 16th June 2008

TWO Chinese "gardeners" who admitted cultivating almost £70,000 worth of cannabis in two Bolton houses have each been sentenced to 18 months in jail.

Illegal immigrants Liang Yu and Qin Zheng appeared at Bolton Crown Court today after police swooped on cannabis factories in Beaumont Drive, Lostock, and Halliwell Road, Halliwell, on October 2 last year.

Geoff Whelan, prosecuting, said the Lostock address was raided following an anonymous tip-off.

Yu was arrested at the house which was found to contain 459 plants with a street value of around £39,384.

While police were there a red Volkswagen car pulled up and a third man, Yehao Yan, was taken into custody.

Documents linking the house to the property in Halliwell Road were found and officers were deployed to carry out a second raid which led to the arrest of Zheng.

Police discovered 329 cannabis plants with a street value of around £28,228, along with a large amount of hydroponic and sophisticated ventilation equipment.

Zheng was also carrying £380 in cash.

When Yu, aged 37, was interviewed by police he told them he had been trafficked into the UK in 2003 by the "Snake Head" gang, to whom he owed a large amount of cash.

He said he was working to pay off his debt.

"He found himself in Bolton working for The Boss' as he described him in his interview. He tended the crop and was paid £300 a week," said Mr Whelan.

Raquel Simpson, defending Yu, said he only had a "low level" of involvement.

Zheng, aged 22, was also a low-level "gardener" employed by gang masters to look after the crops.

Yu and Zheng both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce a Class C drug at an earlier hearing.

Jeremy Lasker, defending Zheng, said: "He is a young Chinese gentleman who really came to this country seeking a better life. He paid money in China in order to get here, but when he did he found that life was not as easy as he thought and he ended up working for people who were prepared to pay him outside the legal system."

Sentencing each man to 18 months in jail, Judge Steven Everett said that they both "fell prey to criminal gangs" who used them as gardeners.

"A message must be sent out to those who involve themselves in the drugs trade, even at a low level, that if you do prison is inevitable," he added.

Judge Everett also recommended that both men be deported to China on release from prison, but added that would be a decision for the Home Office.

Yehao Yan, aged 26, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to produce cannabis and concealing criminal property. He is due to stand trial on September 10.

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