A Vietnamese man arrested inside a sophisticated hydro-house in suburban Figtree was allegedly caught mid-way through performing his daily watering duties.
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Police, acting on a tip-off, raided the Jacaranda Avenue house on Wednesday afternoon, discovering more than 230 cannabis plants growing inside eight rooms.
Dinh Khanh Pham, from Canley Vale, was busted walking out of one of the rooms with a watering canister and spray nozzle in hand, wearing white overalls and a set of blue gloves.
His co-accused, Van Thuy Ngheim, was also arrested at the house.
The pair was charged with commercial cannabis cultivation offences and refused bail in Wollongong Local Court on Thursday, with prosecutors describing the case against Pham as “overwhelmingly strong”.
“Police looked inside the property and observed the accused [Pham] walking out of a room with a watering can,” Sergeant Pavlin told the court in opposing Pham’s bail application.
“It’s clear this was a very involved, large-scale set up that was well organised and well planned.”
Police documents tendered to the court said officers went to the house around 3.20pm on Wednesday after receiving reports of possible drug activity.
Their suspicions were piqued when they discovered the home’s windows were almost all blacked out, a pipeline was protruding from the wall and there was a whirring noise coming from inside.
Meantime, Pham and Ngheim turned up at the house a short time later. Police waited for them to go inside then made their move.
It will be alleged the pair was what is colloquially known as “crop sitters”, meaning they were responsible for the day-to-day running of the set up.
Magistrate Michael Stoddart accepted a submission from Pham’s lawyer that his client wasn’t “the brains of the enterprise” but said he still faced a lengthy stint behind bars if convicted.
The pair was remanded in custody to face court again in August.