Six jailed over cannabis network

Police said the cultivated drugs would have been worth £1m

Six Vietnamese workers who ran a £1m network of cannabis farms across the north of England have been jailed.

The four men and two women had helped run operations at houses in Bolton, Nelson in Lancashire and Keighley, West Yorkshire, Bolton Crown Court heard.

All six, of Weaver Chase, Stoneclough, Bolton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce the class C drug.

The judge at Bolton Crown Court said the ringleader who bankrolled the operation remained at large.

Police found more than 1,400 cannabis plants, growing equipment and a substantial amount of cash during the raids in November 2007.

Five of the gang will be deported to Vietnam after their sentence

Officers said the total value of the plants would have had an estimated street value of £1m.

Five of the defendants had come to the UK from Vietnam illegally.

Organiser Viet Anh Nguyen, 21, was jailed for four years and Tai Lam, 33, was sentenced to 18 months.

Tu Van Nguyen, 36, Son Thai Nguyen, 38, Ly Hug Tran, 26, and Huong Thi Nguyen, 23, were all given 12-month sentences.

The judge recommended that all of the gang, except Huong Thi Nguyen who was in the UK legally, should be deported after serving half of their sentences.

Det Ch Insp George Fawcett, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "Just because these particular cases have concluded today, it does not mean the end of the matter.

"We will continue to crack down on people involved in the cultivation of cannabis."