Ty Nguyen sentenced to 10 months for cannabis production

Ty Nguyen, 46 of no fixed abode, has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for production of cannabis.

Nguyen is also required to pay a victims’ surcharge of £187.

This was following the discovery of a cannabis farm on Middlemarch Road in Nuneaton on 7 September 2023 by officers from the Nuneaton Safer Neighbourhood Team.

The grow was discovered when officers responded to complaints from the community about drug use in the area and noticed a strong smell of cannabis emanating from the address.

Nguyen answered the door, and while he refused the officers entry, he also disclosed that he had entered the country illegally.

The officers attending arrested him, and concerned there may have been others inside the house in country illegally or related to Nguyen’s entry, initiated a search of the house.

Four rooms had been converted into cannabis growing rooms, containing a total of 238 plants. Electricity was being illegally abstracted to power lights and fans in the property.

In interview, Nguyen said that he had originally entered the country two years before. He had been residing in Leicester, where he had been forced into a vehicle and brought to the grow in Nuneaton three months prior to his arrest.

He said that he had been forced to water and feed the plants under threats of violence from the owners of the grow.

Although Nguyen had the keys to the property, he did not leave because he did not know where he was or where he could go.

Ty Nguyen was sentenced on 7 March at Warwick Crown Court.

Investigating officer PC Henningham said “Growing cannabis is a crime in the UK, which is precisely why gangs keep an arm’s length away from the farms by forcing vulnerable people to operate them while they make a profit.

“Nguyen has committed a crime and has been prosecuted according to the law, but along with many other grow operators he is also a victim of modern slavery.

“If there’s a grow going on near you, there’s a good chance that the same exploitation is happening there too.

“Tell us as soon as possible, we’ll preserve your anonymity, and we’ll do something about it.”