House raid in leafy Leeds suburb uncovered £1 million-a-year criminal gang's drug farm

More than 600 plants were found in a semi-detached home in the suburban area of Shadwell in what was described as a “commercial, if not industrial” professional cannabis farm.

Acting on intelligence, police raided the property on Main Street just after 2pm on May 9, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Austin Newman said they initially knocked and saw a man come to the window but then disappear. When he failed to answer the door the officers forced a side door.

Minh Lu, a Vietnamese illegal immigrant, was the only occupant and was arrested. Four floors of the home had been turned over to the production of cannabis with a range of saplings up to fully-mature plants ready for harvest. The usual transformers, lights, fans and extractors were installed to assist the grow.

Experts estimate the street value of the existing crop could reach £384,000, and were capable of producing four crops a year. Indeed, evidence found in the property’s garage pointed to previous cultivations.

They also found a false passport for 27-year-old Lu. He told police he was simply a gardener and put to work by men he met at a market just days before the raid. Yet photos of him in the house two years prior undermined his story, Mr Newman said.

He admitted being concerned in the production of cannabis. Mitigating, Eddison Flint said Lu admitted from the outset that he was there as a professional cannabis gardener. He said he was given accommodation, clothing, food and beer by the criminal gang that ran the operation.

He said he was brought to the UK illegally in the back of a truck, originally thinking he was heading for France.

Judge Rodney Jameson KC jailed Lu for 40 months and said: “It seems you were connected with cannabis throughout much the time you have been here. You did it for a comfortable lifestyle. You were fully aware of the scale of the operation.”

He told Lu that once he completes his sentence, he expects him to be deported.