Two men accused of being in Australia unlawfully are behind bars after police allegedly caught them cultivating cannabis in a "sophisticated" operation at a suburban Canberra house, which was targeted in raids that resulted in the seizure of 452 plants.
Authorities say it appears Thanh Tung Bui, 35, and Le Duong Tran, 34, were in the ACT purely to engage in organised criminal activity.
Those two were remanded in custody when they faced the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday, while co-defendant Duc Hop Nguyen, 64, was granted conditional bail.
Police documents, tendered in court, show officers began investigating the eldest of the trio in May after becoming suspicious he was involved in cannabis cultivation.
They attached a tracking device to Mr Nguyen's silver Honda CRV utility on October 13, leading them to discover he was allegedly attending a Macgregor house almost every day.
The 64-year-old is said to have visited this address 31 times between October 14 and November 7, staying for as little as five minutes and as long as 14-and-a-half hours.
Once the Vietnamese man "abruptly ceased" travelling to this house, police claim, he started regularly attending an Amaroo address instead.
Between November 8 and November 29, when the tracking device apparently failed, Mr Nguyen's vehicle is said to have visited that house on all but two days.
On Wednesday, investigators obtained warrants to search both properties.
At the Amaroo house, they claim to have found "a sophisticated hydroponic cannabis cultivation system" and a total of 197 plants, which were seized.
The same sort of system was also discovered at the Macgregor house, where police claim to have found Mr Bui and Mr Tran "in the process of cultivating the cannabis plants".
Officers arrested the pair, who have been charged with cultivating a commercial quantity of cannabis, and seized 255 plants from that place.
Mr Nguyen was, meanwhile, taken into custody at his home in Ainslie and later charged with two counts of the same offence.
He was the first to apply for bail in court on Thursday, when Legal Aid lawyer Edward Chen described the case against the 64-year-old as "especially weak".
Mr Chen said the allegations, at their highest, were that Mr Nguyen drove a Honda and knew the people who were found in one of the growhouses.
There was no evidence Mr Nguyen was involved in the cultivation operation, he argued, labelling claims his client was part of a criminal syndicate "baseless".
"This is, in my submission, a case of guilt by association," Mr Chen told the court.
Prosecutor Hannah Lee opposed bail, denying suggestions the case against Mr Nguyen was "impossibly weak".
She said the man appeared to have no legitimate source of income or ties to the ACT, arguing he would be motivated to flee the jurisdiction or commit offences on bail.
Magistrate Glenn Theakston decided to grant the 64-year-old bail, saying he thought conditions could be put in place to manage risks even though he, too, had concerns.
But Mr Theakston was not willing to release Mr Bui and Mr Tran, with the court hearing there was uncertainty about whether the pair had the right to be in Australia.
Ms Lee said they appeared to be in the country unlawfully, and in the ACT "for no reason other than to engage in [organised criminal] activity".
Mr Bui's lawyer, Georgia Le Couteur, said her client had instructed her he lived in Canberra with three children and a wife who was "gainfully employed as a nail technician".
Meanwhile, Mr Tran's lawyer, Jan de Bruin, said he was instructed that his client held a bridging visa and was entitled to work in the ACT, telling the court someone from the Australian Border Force would no doubt be present if the man was here unlawfully.
Mr Theakston decided to adjourn the younger pair's bail applications until next Wednesday, saying he wanted to get some clarity around their immigration status and see any evidence of their ties to the ACT.
The magistrate said Mr Bui and Mr Tran would be remanded in custody until then.
