A Vietnamese man arrested after police uncovered $1.23 million worth of hydroponic cannabis inside a Dapto home on Tuesday has been identified in court as Ba Khuyen Nguyen.
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Police seized 410 plants in the early morning raid on the Marshall Street house.
It is alleged the plants ranged from seedlings to fully mature specimens and were spread across seven growing rooms inside the house.
Police will allege electrical circuits had been bypassed to supply electricity to the burgeoning operation, which included a pre-planned sophisticated watering and filtration system to tend to the plants.
Nguyen was arrested just after 8am and charged with cultivating a large commercial supply of a prohibited plant.
He was remanded in custody to face Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday, but chose to remain in the cells during a brief mention of his matter.
He did not apply for bail and it was formally refused by Magistrate Chris McRobert, who ordered the brief of evidence be served on Nguyen’s lawyers by mid-September.
The case will return to court on September 27.
