Drug grower's body 'was dumped'

Kim Van Tran was the gardener at a cannabis factory when he died

The body of a Vietnamese drug grower was dumped in a ditch after he died in a cannabis factory, a jury at Swansea Crown Court has heard.

The body of Kim Van Tran was found near Horeb, Carmarthenshire, in May.

Ernest John Lewis, 57, of Swansea, Ba Doai Tran, 70, of London, and a 17-year-old youth who cannot be named, deny conspiracy to supply cannabis.

Ba Doai Tran also denies conspiracy to pervert the course of justice over his alleged role in disposing of the body.

Mr Tran admits conspiracy to produce cannabis.

The prosecution claims Kim Van Tran was a "gardener" at a cannabis factory in a domestic property in the village of Porthyrhyd, Carmarthenshire, where he died.

His body, found wrapped in plastic bags and bound with tape, was found by the side of Horeb Road, between the villages of Horeb and Five Roads.

A sophisticated conspiracy to produce cannabis on a large commercial scale Ian Wright, prosecuting

The prosecution claims his body was moved and dumped by other Vietnamese men involved in running the cannabis factory in Porthyrhyd, as well as a second factory in Llandeilo.

The jury was told that, at earlier hearings, two other Vietnamese men entered guilty pleas, one man admitted perverting the cause of justice and cannabis production, while the other man admitted the production of cannabis.

'Phone evidence'

Ian Wright, prosecuting, said the three defendants on trial, as well as Kim Van Tran and the other two men who had admitted the charge, had all been involved in different ways in what he called "a sophisticated conspiracy to produce cannabis on a large commercial scale".

He said Ba Doai Tran was the organiser, Mr Lewis had provided a property and electrician skills needed to steal electricity to grow the drug while the 17-year-old Vietnamese national was a gardener like Kim Van Tran, the man who died.

The prosecution said that after Kim Van Tran's death Ba Doai Tran disposed of his body with the assistance of one of the men who pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.

The jury were told they would see mobile phone evidence linking the defendants to the dead man and records from a satellite navigation device found in Ba Doai Tran's car would show how he was extremely close to the country lane where the body was found on the night it was believed to have been dumped.

The jury was also told they would hear forensic evidence matching a carpet at the Porthyrhyd property to fibres found on Kim Van Tran's body.

'Lucrative enterprise'

Mr Wright told the court the body had been dumped in the "undignified" way "to ensure that the very lucrative criminal enterprise that was ongoing was not uncovered by the authorities".

The jury was also told about how the Vietnamese defendants were arrested.

A few days after the discovery of the body, they were in a car at a service station in Carmarthenshire, heading west.

The prosecution claim the men were returning to the cannabis factory after several of them had spent several days "lying low" in London.

Mr Wright said Ba Doai Tran then told police he was "just out for a drive" and enjoyed driving from London to Wales because it reminded him of Vietnam, and claimed then to know nothing about the dead man.

The trial continues, and is expected to last for two weeks.