Illegal immigrants caught fleeing from $20m cannabis crop at Virginia

They were brought down by police dogs at one of the state’s largest cannabis crops, but a court has heard they tried to flee for a very different reason.

Two men caught fleeing the scene of one of the state’s largest cannabis crops – containing almost 7000 plants worth more than $20m – were illegal immigrants who had overstayed their visas, a court has heard.

Mai Viet Ngo, 28, and Quang Ha Tran, 54, were brought down by police dogs while fleeing the multiple greenhouse crop at Virginia in February 2020.

Prosecutor Hilda Kinuthia told a sentencing submissions hearing in the District Court that the men were employed as gardeners for the crop of 6965 plants kept in three of the property’s greenhouses.

“All of the plants were in individual black pots,” she said.

“The plants were all female, healthy and at different stages of cultivation.”

A fourth greenhouse contained the remnants of a previously harvested crop, while 36kg of cannabis was also found drying.

Police remove thousands of cannabis plants at a property in Virginia, on Saturday, February 29, 2020. (Photo: AAP/Brenton Edwards)

Ms Kinuthia said the elaborate set-up included plastic sheeting and an irrigation system.

“The cultivation was clearly very well organised, sophisticated and a very well founded outdoor cultivation,” she said.

“It was one of the largest outdoor cannabis cultivations in South Australia and in my submission it suggests it was purely for a commercial purpose.”

She said the yield from the crop’s mature plants “could be priced in the vicinity of in excess of $20m”.

She said the men were “at the lower end of the hierarchy” of those who must have been involved with the crops, but said an immediate jail term was the only appropriate penalty.

Ngo was arrested wearing a jumper which “smelt strongly of cannabis”, wearing a mask and glasses which had cannabis residue, and admitted to working at the property’s main dwelling.

Tran was caught with cannabis debris on his shoes and had admitted to investigators that he was working at a cannabis farm.

The pair each previously pleaded guilty to a charge of cultivating a large commercial quantity of a controlled plant.

Police found thousands of cannabis plants, each in an individual pot. Picture: SA Police

Aaron Almeida, for Tran, said his client had arrived in Australia on a student visa in 2013, before obtaining a bridging visa. He overstayed that visa, and was “lured” to the Virginia crop about a month before his arrest via a Facebook ad which offered free accommodation with a market gardening job.

“Adelaide was a discreet location to hide from immigration,” he said.

He said his client’s “limited role” at the property was as “rubbish disposal”.

Hugh Woods, for Ngo, said his client arrived in Australia in 2018 in search of a job to support his family – whom he hasn’t told about his offending – in Vietnam.

He said Ngo’s role at the property was as a gardener and caretaker.

Lawyers for both men said a prison term for the offending was inevitable but asked the court consider imposing a “merciful” non-parole period.

They will be sentenced next month.