A court has heard a 32-year-old Vietnamese woman arrested at a cannabis farm in Calderwood, south of Wollongong, travelled to the property on the promise of a lucrative cleaning job.
Thi Hue Tran was one of 10 people, mostly Vietnamese nationals, arrested when police raided the Calderwood Road property in May 2024.
The raid was part of a police operation targeting a transnational organised crime syndicate, which lead to a total of 19 arrests and the seizure of more than $80 million worth of cannabis.
The court heard almost 100 kilograms of cannabis leaf was on the property, which is a few kilometres from a new housing development near Albion Park.
In a previous sentencing related to the same case, the operation was likened to “modern-day slavery” by Magistrate Lucas Swan.
Thi Hue Tran was sentenced in Wollongong District Court this morning. (ABC News: Nick McLaren)
Tran pleaded guilty to one charge of being part of a criminal group and one charge of supplying an illegal drug.
She was sentenced to a community correction order and a fixed-term imprisonment of one year and 11 days by Judge Imad Abdul-Karim in Wollongong District Court today.
She will serve no further time after spending almost 13 months under house arrest.
‘$350 per day cleaning job’
The court heard the 32-year-old had moved to Australia with her husband eight months before the raid, looking to work and send money back to her children and parents.
She had several jobs, including picking strawberries, working as a nail technician and packing food in a factory.
Judge Abdul-Karim said in his reasoning that Tran was looking for a second job in Cabramatta when she was approached by a person who promised her a cleaning job paying $350 a day in Calderwood.
He noted that Tran told a sentencing report and psychological assessment she was unaware the operation was dealing in cannabis, and she arrived on the site just two days before the raid.
The agreed facts stated she was found by police crouched behind a table used to cook food and that her DNA was not found on any of the cannabis product.
Justice Abdul-Karim described her as “reckless to the fact that leaf bud was an illegal drug” in his sentencing remarks.
A large shed full of cannabis drying trays was found during the police operation. (Supplied: NSW Police)
Tran wiped away tears in the courtroom this morning as a translator helped deliver the sentence.
Judge Abdul-Karim said he accepted Tran’s genuine remorse, referring to an apology shared in the psychological report.
“I apologise for everything I’ve done because of my ignorance,” Tran said in the report.
“I deeply regret what I’ve done.
“I’ve caused a lot of worry to my parents and children [and] my husband is very sad and is trying to support me.”
According to the agreed facts, police raided the property at 2:20pm on May 29, 2024, finding six commercial-sized polyethylene greenhouses and a large industrial shed.
Inside the shed, they discovered several people working with harvested cannabis leaf and a partitioned area with mattresses, clothing and personal items.
A cooler with ice to keep energy drinks chilled and numerous harvested cannabis plots led police to believe the harvest had only recently been completed.Â
Several others arrested in the raid will face sentencing later this month.