Vietnamese man jailed at Teesside Crown Court for £267,000 cannabis farm in terraced Hartlepool house

Vietnamese national Hoang Van Hoan, 46, was found outside a house in Sheriff Street on May 28 where five rooms on three floors were being used to grow cannabis.

Inside, officers found 235 plants and 88 recently cropped plants.

Jonathan Gittins, prosecuting, at Teesside Crown Court said: “The officers entered and noticed a strong smell of cannabis.

“There were five rooms across three floors that contained cannabis plants and growing equipment as well as one sparsely furnished room with a bed.

“The street value was estimated to be £89,000 to £267,000.”

Hoang, of no fixed address, who had been living illegally in the UK, told an immigration officer he had been tricked into going to the address on the grounds of painting and decorating and he was not allowed to leave.

He pleaded guilty to production of a class B drug. The court heard he had no previous convictions.

Giving him a discount for pleading guilty, Recorder Aisha Wadoodi jailed Hoang for nine months.

The cannabis farm is just the latest in a long line of similar recent cases in Hartlepool houses.

Organised gangs are believed to be responsible for the majority of them.

Earlier this month, two Albanian men were jailed after being found dismantling a growth in a house in Harrow Street.

And in June, failed asylum seeker Saimir Ferati was jailed in connection with a cannabis farm in Stephen Street raided by police last December.