Hien Van Nguyen convicted for role in $20m Coonambula drug farm

A convicted heroin trafficker who moved from Victoria to Queensland to work on a ‘sophisticated’ $20m drug farm did not know the operation was illegal, a court heard.

A convicted heroin trafficker working on a “sophisticated” $20 million North Burnett drug farm did not know he had been recruited for an illegal operation, a Bundaberg court heard.

Hien Van Nguyen, 55, pleaded guilty to producing a dangerous drug for his involvement in a Coonambula cannabis drug farm in Bundaberg District Court.

Crown prosecutor Jodie Tame told the court Nguyen was one of four people arrested in a police raid of the farm 64km west of Gayndah on July 28, 2023.

Police arrested four people, including Nguyen, in a drug raid on the Coonambula property on July 28, 2023.

Police found 11 greenhouses on the property, 10 of which contained 4932 cannabis plants weighing about 2072kg, along with fluorescent lighting and hydroponic equipment.

Ms Tame said the estimated value of the crop was between $10.6 and 19.7 million.

Nguyen had been working on the farm since about July 1, 2023, and had been living with the co-accused in a small house on the property.

The court heard he had been recruited as a farm hand, and was not initially aware that the farm was an illegal drug operation.

Police found 11 greenhouses on the property, 10 of which contained 4932 cannabis plants weighing about 2072kg, along with fluorescent lighting and hydroponic equipment.

Nguyen’s role on the farm was to tend the cannabis plants for a fixed wage, but ultimately he did not receive any payment for working on the farm, the court heard.

The court heard Nguyen was born in Vietnam and came to Australia as a refugee, and had since become an Australian citizen.

He was raised by his older brother in Victoria, and worked as a mechanic and panel beater before developing a heroin addiction and becoming involved in a heroin trafficking enterprise, the court heard.

Nguyen had convictions dating from 1992 to 2001 for trafficking and possessing heroin including a term of imprisonment imposed in the Melbourne County Court.

Following release from prison, Nguyen ran a food delivery business which ultimately failed along with his marriage, leading to him spending a long period of time homeless, the court heard.

The greenhouses contained 4932 cannabis plants with an estimated value of between $10.6 and 19.7 million.

The court heard it was under these circumstances of being homeless and “desperate for money” that Nguyen agreed to take the farm hand job on the illegal drug operation in Coonambula.

Nguyen’s defence barrister, Allana Davie, told the court that upon his release from custody her client would live with his brother in Victoria and resume care for his children from his current and a previous relationship.

Judge John Allen KC told Nguyen his prior heroin trafficking convictions were not a factor in his sentencing for the current charges, and he was being sentenced on the basis of being recruited as a farmhand for an operation which he was initially unaware was illegal.

Taking into account 257 days served in presentence custody, Judge Allen sentenced Nguyen to two years and six months in prison to be suspended after serving 10 months for an operational period of three years.

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Originally published as Hien Van Nguyen convicted for role in $20m Coonambula drug farm