A Vietnamese cannabis ‘gardener’ was paid just under 38c per hour for the six weeks he cultivated €280,000 worth of cannabis plants at a grow house in west Clare.
At Ennis Circuit Court, Detective Garda Oliver Downes said that Pham Van Tung (53) was paid £300 (sterling) for the six weeks between November and January 13th of this year when a Garda bust ended the operation.
Throughout the six weeks, Mr Van Tung remained at the isolated home outside the west Clare seaside resort of Kilkee and the pay of £300 for the 1,008 hours equates to 38 cents per hour.
Det Garda Downes said that there were 350 plants on the premises and that Mr Van Tung was brought to west Clare from Belfast after agreeing with a man to grow some Chinese herbs.
However, Garda Downes said on a scale of one to ten in terms of the scale of operation, the grow house was “a nine or a ten”.
Since January 13th, Mr Van Tung has remained in custody and Judge Gerald Keyes imposed a four year jail term after Mr Van Tung pleaded guilty to the cultivation of the plants.
However, Judge Keyes suspended final three years of the jail term with Mr Van Tung to serve one year. With remission, the man is likely to be released shortly after being in prison for almost six months.
Det Downes said that Mr Van Tung received an initial payment of £300 last November and didn’t receive any other monies before a Garda raid on the house at Tullaroe, Kilkee on January 13th last.
Det Garda Downes said that the Garda bust on the grow house is one of a number of investigations being taken against non-Irish nationals operating grow houses.
The detective said that the investigations are part of Operation Nitrogen and he pointed out that the plants were four weeks away from maturity.
He said that on reaching maturity, the plant would have a maximum street value of €280,000.
Counsel for the State, Stephen Coughlan BL said that Mr Van Tung is a Swedish national after arriving there from as a refugee from Hong Kong in 1989. He said that the man – who has worked as a welder – was originally from North Vietnam.
Det Garda Downes told the court that Mr Van Tung was at the lower end in in the drugs operation.
