Duy Khanh Bui and Simon Tran convicted for involvement in $100m drug operation

The inner workings of a “highly sophisticated” Queensland drug farm complete with retractable walls and swimming pool feeders can be revealed for the first time. VIDEO, PHOTOS.

Industrial generators, retractable walls and irrigation systems were in full swing when police swooped on a $100m drug operation near Bundaberg.

New details about the Isis Central bust were revealed on Thursday as two of the men charged over the mega marijuana farm - Duy Khanh Bui and Simon Tran - were sentenced in Bundaberg District Court.

Both men pleaded guilty to one charge of producing a dangerous drug.

The court heard Bui, 30, and Tran, 51, were living in the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta in 2022 when they were recruited to work on a farm in Hervey Bay.

Soon after arriving, they were moved along with their 12 co-accused to a property at Apple Tree Creek which consisted of vacant land and a house described by Tran’s barrister, Eleanor Lynch, as “dilapidated”.

After doing some repairs on the house and clearing the remaining land on the property, the 14 men allegedly worked on constructing 51 greenhouses.

Bui, Tran and their 12 co-accused constructed 51 greenhouses of 80m in length, supplied by industrial generators and artificial water reservoirs.

The court heard the greenhouses were around 80m long and equipped with retractable plastic walls, hydration systems and fluorescent lighting powered by industrial generators, with the irrigation systems in the greenhouses supplied by above-ground pools acting as water reservoirs.

After working for around six weeks on the construction of the greenhouses, 300 cannabis plants arrived which the workers including Bui and Tran planted in individual pots along with potting mix and growth enhancers.

The original crop of 300 plants was used to propagate a further crop amounting to 43,246 plants with an estimated weight of 14 tonnes that was found by police when they raided the property in October 2022.

Crown prosecutor Ryan Minuti told the court that while the plants were at various levels of maturation, at full maturity they would have had an estimated value of over $100m.

Mr Minuti said this was a “highly sophisticated … commercial plantation involving substantial profit potential”, although it was conceded that Bui and Tran “were not to see the overwhelming majority of those profits”.

The court heard Bui and Tran were paid a wage of $3000 per month by the owner of the operation, with Bui mainly responsible for repair work, Mun Kah Siew employed as a cook and the remainder of the men including Tran employed as general workers.

An initial batch of 300 plants was used to propagate a crop of 43,246 plants weighing 14 tonnes.

The court heard Tran had a lengthy New South Wales criminal history including a 2001 conviction for armed robbery for which he was sentenced to six and a half years imprisonment and a more recent conviction for supplying dangerous drugs for which he served two and a half years in prison.

Ms Lynch told the court Tran’s criminal history could be explained by his background as a child growing up in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, with his brother arriving in Australia in the first wave of Vietnamese refugees in the early 1980s soon followed by Tran and the rest of his immediate family.

Tran completed only two years of high school and “fell into a bad crowd” involving gang activity which led to him being shot twice in his late 20s, Ms Lynch said.

Ms Lynch said Tran and his co-accused had a low moral culpability for the drug operation, saying Tran did not know the farm was intended to be a cannabis farm until he arrived at the Isis Central location and had intended to leave the operation after the initial setup was complete.

The court heard the farm “boss” closely monitored all the workers’ movements, with all the men living in close quarters in the “dilapidated old house” that was “infested with rats” with a shower supplied by a rain water tank that often ran dry.

Bui was mainly responsible for repair work on the farm, with Tran and most of the remaining co-accused employed as general workers on a wage of $3000 per month.

Bui’s barrister, Phillip Hardcastle, told the court his client completed a Civil Engineering degree in Vietnam before coming to Australia for a holiday, and due to some complications with his Tax File Number was forced to take cash work while in the country to pay for his holiday.

The court heard Bui “ran into some people” while he was living in Cabramatta who offered him some cash work on the Hervey Bay farm, which led to his involvement in the operation.

In sentencing, Judge Tony Moynihan KC took into account the 333 days served by Tran and Bui in pre-sentence custody, and the differing circumstances of both men including age and Tran’s criminal history.

Both men were sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, with Bui receiving a parole release date of October 5, 2023 and Tran a parole release date of December 5, 2023.

Convictions were recorded for both men.

Originally published as Duy Khanh Bui and Simon Tran convicted for involvement in $100m drug operation