Marijuana gardener jailed following raid of cannabis house

A marijuana gardener who tended to five cannabis grows in the same house has been jailed.

Nam Tran was found hiding in the bathroom when officers knocked down the front door and ran upstairs.

That would prove to be the only room above the ground floor that hadn’t been converted into an area to farm cannabis.

Tran was tending to a crop of nearly 200 cannabis plants when he was caught, although there was evidence of previous grows before that too.   

Four rooms upstairs – including the loft – were found to be harbouring large grows, with more plants in another growing area downstairs as well.

That room was discovered by police behind a plastic curtain, next to a makeshift bedroom on the ground floor, during the raid on 23 July 2024.  

Officers made the drugs discovery within seconds of entering the house in Whitemoss Close, Wollaton – using a battering ram to force their way in.

The City West neighbourhood policing team conducted the warrant, supported by Tactical Support Group (TSG) officers, after receiving information the house was being used as a cannabis farm.

This would ultimately prove to be the case, with 21-year-old Tran finding himself in handcuffs, and the large cannabis crop ending up in the back of police vans.

All the growing equipment was also removed from the house, which was found to have had its electricity illegally bypassed to power the grow.

Tran, of St Johns, Enderby, Leicester, pleaded guilty to producing cannabis the very next day (24 July), with a sentencing date set for Wednesday (23 October).

Addressing Tran before sentencing him to 16 months in prison, Judge James Sampson said:

“This was a commercial grow capable of yielding over £100,000 worth of cannabis. There were 196 plants there and evidence indicating a previous crop before that too.

“Your activity as a gardener growing cannabis would’ve required some skill, while you had keys to the premises, so you could’ve come and gone as you wished.

“There were scales, burner phones, the electricity had been bypassed, there was lighting, fans, extraction equipment; it was a sophisticated operation, and you clearly knew the scale of it."

Sergeant Georgina Northwood, of the City West neighbourhood policing team, said:

“As the judge rightly said in his summary, Nam Tran will have been thoroughly aware of the scale of the cannabis growing operation he was involved in.

“While nearly 200 cannabis plants were seized by our officers on this occasion, there was also evidence more plants had been farmed in that same house before that too.  

“Tran would’ve no doubt been responsible for tending to them as well, with the cannabis grows putting other properties around this house at risk, due to the fire hazard this process creates.

“We are absolutely committed to doing whatever we can as a neighbourhood team to root out this type of drug activity from our communities, as we showed here by acting on intelligence and conducting this warrant.

“It is pleasing to see Tran has now been jailed for his part as the cannabis gardener in this illegal operation.”