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An illegal immigrant was looking after a large North East cannabis farm with days of arriving in the UK on a small boat.

Trung Phan arrived at Dover on May 28 last year and was taken to an immigration centre then moved to Home Office accommodation in London.

But with the help of underworld contacts, he managed to travel to Newcastle that same day and by June 12 he was living in a cannabis farm on Cowpen Road, in Blyth, Northumberland.

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Despite being surrounded by 325 plants, worth up to 129,000, he "ludicrously" claimed he didn't realise he was living in the midst of a drugs factory.

A jury found the 39-year-old guilty of being concerned in the production of cannabis and he has now been jailed for 18 months.

Newcastle Crown Court heard it was a sophisticated set up, which had been established before Phan's involvement.

There were four different growing areas and the electricity supply had been bypassed.

When police raided it, Phan was there alone and tried to escape and hide mobile phones and a list of contact numbers.

Sentencing him, Judge Paul Sloan QC said: "You claimed you had been ignorant of the fact you had been living in the middle of a cannabis farm and that you had done nothing to assist the production.

"The jury rejected that account, which was plainly ludicrous, and convicted you."

The judge added: "You were not threatened or forced to become involved.

"You clearly had links to organised crime long before you arrived in this jurisdiction and you quickly made contact with gang members once you were in London.

"That said, you played a small part in this particular enterprise."

Peter Schofield, defending, said he had "traversed Europe from his home" and played a limited role in the cannabis farm.

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Blyth cannabis farm worth more than 100,000 was being looked after by illegal immigrant - Chronicle Live