Jail for illegal immigrant with cannabis farm that "looked like a jungle"

dailyrecord.co.uk:

An illegal immigrant has been jailed after a neighbour uncovered a cannabis farm that “looked like a jungle”. Police seized 245 plants worth up to £110,000 from the property in Alberta Avenue, East Kilbride.

Cong Le Hynh claimed he was a victim of human trafficking and criminals had forced him to look after the huge cultivation.The Lanarkshire Live app is available to download now.

Get all the news from your area – as well as features, entertainment, sport and the latest on Lanarkshire’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – straight to your fingertips, 24/7.The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories, and allows you to customise your page to the sections that matter most to you.Head to the App Store and never miss a beat in Lanarkshire - iOS - Android But a jury found him guilty of producing cannabis and bypassing the upstairs flat’s electricity meter on December 8, 2021.Jailing him for two years and nine months, Sheriff Ray Small said: “This was cannabis production on a large scale and, according to police officers, to a very high standard.“It seems to me you knew full well what you were doing.“You appear to have been brought to this country by others, but I don’t accept - and neither did the Home Office - that it was human trafficking.”Hamilton Sheriff Court heard that a man discovered the huge cultivation after going upstairs to complain about water seeping into the flat below.

Police were contacted and Le Hynh, who had moved to the UK from Vietnam, was caught as he tried to flee from the flat.Le Hynh, 36, claimed he arrived in Glasgow by train from London and was offered “cleaning work” by two men, one Chinese and the other ‘western’.He said he was threatened, beaten and warned that