Mildura Magistrates’ Court: Nam Tran pleads guilty to cultivating cannabis after being caught with huge hemp haul

A Sunshine man caught with almost 100 cannabis plants tried to escape police detection by ripping down plaster walls, a court has heard.

Sunshine man Nam Tran pleaded guilty in Mildura Magistrates’ Court after he was caught with 93 maturing cannabis plants. Photo Cannabis Training University

A Sunshine man caught with a whopper haul of marijuana has escaped jail time due to his previous good behaviour.

Nam Tran, 47, pleaded guilty in Mildura Magistrates’ Court on October 31 to one charge of cultivating cannabis.

Police tracked Tran down in Robinvale on April 5, where he was busted with 93 mature marijuana plants as well as 3.15 kgs of the drug in dehydrated form.

Caught inside a factory, Tran had begun ripping the plaster walls down in an attempt to escape before police got inside.

The raid also uncovered a large amount of items traditionally used to grow the herbal narcotic, including growth lamps, light shades and hydroponic setups across four separate rooms.

Magistrate Patrick Southey said Tran’s lack of prior history worked strongly in his favour.

“This was clearly a commercial operation,” he said.

“I’m going to take into account that you’ve never been in trouble before.”

Tran was convicted and ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid community work and will remain on a corrections order for 12 months.

He will return to the Sunshine Magistrates’ Court on December 5 to face other charges including trafficking and failing to answer bail.