Vietnamese cannabis grower to be deported

Nam Tran was caught red-handed tending to grows throughout a property in Wollaton

A Vietnamese man caught tending to cannabis grows inside a Nottingham house faces deportation after being jailed for a year and four months.

Nam Tran, 21, was found hiding in the bathroom of a property in Whitemoss Close, Wollaton, after police entered using a battering ram.

The raid in July uncovered 196 plants in five separate grows, which Nottingham Crown Court heard was capable of yielding cannabis with a street value of more than £100,000.

The UK Border Agency has been notified of Tran’s jail term, which will result in an automatic deportation.

Nottinghamshire Police said the raid was carried out following a tip-off.

One room downstairs had been converted for cannabis plants while four rooms upstairs - including the loft - housed grows.

Police said there was also evidence of previous batches being cultivated inside the house, which had seen its electricity supply bypassed.

Rooms throughout the property had been dedicated to cultivating cannabis

Tran, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to producing cannabis the day after the raid and was on Wednesday sentenced to 16 months in prison, and ordered to pay a £187 victim surcharge.

The plants and cultivation equipment have been forfeited and destroyed.

Sgt Georgina Northwood from the City West neighbourhood policing team, which carried out the raid supported by Tactical Support Group officers, said Tran would have been “thoroughly aware” of the scale of the operation he was tending to.