A VIETNAMESE national forensically linked to two large cannabis grow houses at Aberglasslyn and Hunterview claims he was "tricked" into being involved in the operation and was only delivering groceries and mowing lawns.
Trong Cuong Nguyen, 29, on Friday became the latest in a long line of Vietnamese nationals to be convicted for cultivating cannabis in sophisticated grow operations across the Hunter.
Nguyen's story is much like a lot of the others; he came to Australia to study and work, but when his family began to suffer financially back home he found himself being preyed upon by members of his own community and pulled into the murky world of organised crime.
And his story is similar to the others over the past decade because Nguyen was a low-level player, a crop sitter or grower, left to take the wrap while the higher ups cut their significant losses and moved on, safe in the knowledge that those caught either don't know who they are or are too scared of reprisals to identify them.
Police say they went to a house in Honeysuckle Drive, Aberglasslyn in March 2018, on an unrelated matter and could hear a mechanical humming coming from inside the garage.
They knocked on the door, went around the back and then walked out front to call detectives. While they were out the front it is believed a number of people fled out the back door.
No one was arrested and a few days later police searched the home and found 321 cannabis plants inside. "The entire residence was devoted to the cultivation of hydroponic plants," Judge Kate Traill said on Friday.
It wasn't until September 2020 when Nguyen was arrested at another house at Hunterview - where another sophisticated operation and 248 cannabis plants were discovered - that police were able to link him to the Aberglasslyn operation through DNA and fingerprints.
Nguyen argued he had been "tricked" into working for the people behind the operation, claiming he was employed to deliver groceries, clean and mow lawns and denying he knew what was going on inside the houses.
But Judge Traill rejected those claims, pointing to the number of cannabis plants found at both houses and the fact Nguyen's DNA profile was found on a number of items in a number of rooms.
Judge Traill said there was no evidence Nguyen financed the operations and he had good prospects for rehabilitation, pointing to his remorse, job prospects and the nearly 14 months he had spent behind bars.
She ordered he serve a 25-month intensive corrections order with 250 hours of community service and he walked out of jail on Friday.
