Jail terms for cannabis suppliers

The pair were found in a car near an industrial unit containing cannabis

A man and a woman guilty of supplying drugs grown at a cannabis factory in the south of Scotland have been jailed.

Awang An and Wenxia Dong were convicted after being stopped in a car near the factory at the Broadmeadow Industrial Estate in May.

Awang An was sentenced to 24 months in jail and recommended for deportation and Wenxia Dong, who is pregnant, was jailed for 16 months.

Dumfries Sheriff Court heard that both were in the country illegally.

Wenxia Dong was also found guilty of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by throwing away a plastic bag containing scales, fuses, bottles of plant feed and £3,700 which Sheriff George Jamieson ordered to be forfeited.

The two, both aged 34, had been found with the supplies for growing more than 1,300 plants inside the factory, which would have had a street value of up to £750,000 on maturity.

Sheriff Jamieson said he took into account the magnitude of the operation but felt they were at the lower end of the chain.

Two others who were found in a roof space in the factory and admitted producing the cannabis were previously each sentenced to 32 months and recommended for deportation.