\u201cOn this occasion, that included you and your co-accused, your partner.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike many apprehended as a result of the termination of such cannabis cultivation operations, you and she were recent immigrants who appear to have been brought to New Zealand to work in the cannabis plantation for organised criminal groups.\u201d<\/p>\n
A police photo from inside the cannabis grow house that was run by Quang Thang Ngo and his wife in Pukekohe, Auckland. Photo \/ NZ Police<\/p>\n
The grow house being run by Ngo and Vu was one of dozens, if not hundreds, of such sites in Auckland<\/a> and elsewhere.<\/p>\n Last year, police destroyed more than 10 tonnes of cannabis after raids on 120 clandestine grow houses<\/a> being run by Vietnamese crime groups in Auckland. <\/p>\n This week, police shut down 14 grow houses in Rotorua<\/a> and arrested 16 Vietnamese<\/a> nationals, 14 of them for alleged cannabis cultivation and two for Immigration Act<\/a> matters. <\/p>\n Cannabis plants were \u2018healthy and well-tended\u2019<\/p>\n Police raided the Pukekohe house being tended by Ngo and Vu on February 5 this year.<\/p>\n Judge Winter said they found 123 plants in five grow rooms, and 36 seedlings in a cupboard in the hallway.<\/p>\n The plants were \u201chealthy and well-tended\u201d and Ngo and Vu were at the property when police arrived. <\/p>\n Police estimated the potential yield of the crop was 1908 ounces (54kg), which would be worth about $196,000 on the street.<\/p>\n Judge Winter said the phrase \u201ca picture tells a thousand words\u201d was evident in the photos taken in the house by police.<\/p>\n \u201cThe photographs show more than words can express; the extent and sophistication of the cannabis-growing operation,\u201d Judge Winter said.<\/p>\n However, the judge said that, despite the sophistication of the operation he didn\u2019t attribute any role to Ngo beyond that of \u201ca farmer\u201d.<\/p>\n He sentenced Ngo to two years in prison on one charge of cultivating cannabis. <\/p>\n Ngo did not enter New Zealand illegally<\/p>\n Judge Winter said Ngo had no offending history in New Zealand and there was no suggestion that he entered the country illegally or was not entitled to work here.<\/p>\n