Illegal immigrant jailed for cannabis farm
The sophisticated set-up, uncovered in 2024, could have produced cannabis worth almost £500,000 on the wholesale market and up to £1.4m at street value, Bradford Crown Court heard.
Le Thanh Long, 23, worked in other parts of the Casa Hotel and Restaurant on Elland Road while hotel guests enjoyed fine dining, prosecutor Nadim Bashir said.
Long, of Withington Road in Manchester, was found guilty of being concerned in the production of cannabis, and was jailed on Monday for three years.
Long and four other Vietnamese men were cleared of their involvement in another large cannabis grow uncovered during a police raid on the former Ritz Ballroom on Bradford Road in Brighouse, when 1,800 plants were found inside the former dance venue.
The defendants said they were victims of modern slavery and had been forced to work there in January 2024.
Electricity workers at the Casa Hotel eventually discovered in August that the supply to the premises had been bypassed, Mr Bashir said.
Police set up a "scene guard" overnight following the discovery of the cannabis operation, and more than 1,700 cannabis plants were found in 13 "grow rooms", Mr Bashir said.
Long was found to be hiding in the premises before making a bid to escape in the early hours, but was spotted running from the scene by an officer and detained at a nearby bus stop.
Barrister Jeremy Barton, defending Long, said his client had worked as a "gardener" for about four months.
During sentencing, Judge Kirstie Watson said the cannabis found at the Casa Hotel was being produced on an "industrial basis" and that Long must have been aware of the scale of the operation if he had been involved for four months.
"I accept that having entered this country illegally, looking for work, that vulnerability was no doubt exploited by others," she told Long via an interpreter.
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