Cannabis worth almost £1 million was recovered from a drugs farm which had been set up by two illegal immigrants in a former Moray hotel, a court has heard.
The massive cultivation was discovered in September 2020, when residents in Buckie reported to police a strong smell coming from the old Highlander Hotel.
Officers obtained a search warrant for the premises, which have been closed since 2019, and arrested two Vietnamese men, following a brief chase.
It was eventually accepted that 35-year-old Thong Nguyn was the victim of human-trafficking and he is now back in Vietnam after agreeing to return there as a deportee.
But his 28-year-old co-accused Chien Van Le has been kept in custody for almost 22 months to determine his status.
Sheriffs who presided over the case were becoming increasingly impatient with the Home Office, which failed to give a definitive answer about Van Le.
However, Van Le has now pled guilty at Inverness Sheriff Court to being concerned in the production and supply of the drug.
If Van Le had been trafficked, he would have been deported instead of prosecuted.
After hearing the facts, Sheriff Robert Macdonald sentenced Van Le to 38 months in jail.
It was backdated to September 22 2020 and Van Le will be released into the custody of the Home Office and probably deported back to Vietnam.
Fiscal depute David Morton told the court that a total of 1,140 plants were recovered, although 300 of them weren’t worth anything.
He said that each plant would be valued at between £200 and £810, so the maximum street value would be £923,000.
Following the raid, a dozen evidence bags were stacked in the back of a police van, with officers appearing to struggle to find space for them all.
Other bags containing the dried drug were also removed.
Mr Morton said they were worth a maximum of £140,940.
In pictures: Police remove plants from Moray hotel following raid
The suspected illegal operation was reported to police by locals who had concerns about what was going on inside the property.
Parents of children who attend a primary school close to the hotel had also reported unusual smells emanating from the site.
When police moved in, they saw the two accused in the building before they made their brief escape by smashing a glass door.
The farm was located in 10 rooms of the three-storey building and another room, stacked with electrical equipment, was used to dry out the leaves, which were hanging from the ceiling and laid out across the floor.
Accused told he was growing medicine
Van Le’s solicitor Matthew O’Neill said his client smuggled himself into the UK via Russia, Poland and Paris to obtain work here.
The married father-of-two couldn’t get employment because of his illegal status but was given the opportunity by a Vietnamese couple in London to work in Buckie.
Mr O’Neill added: “He was told that individuals with links to the Asian community had an operation in the Highlander Hotel set up to grow what he was told was medicine.
“He indicated that he should have been aware that this was not a legal operation but in his position he felt he had to take it.”
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