Chinese nationals to be deported over role in cannabis grow house
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Two illegal Chinese immigrants will be deported after being sentenced for growing a secret drug crop in a Canberra home.
The ACT Supreme Court heard 45-year-old Zhezhu Quan and 51-year-old Aifeng Zhang were recruited in Sydney by a criminal group to run a cannabis grow house in the Canberra suburb of Flynn.
When police raided the property in April, they found a sliding door in the back of a wardrobe, which revealed secret rooms set up to grow almost 400 plants.
Crown prosecutor Mark Fernandez told the court the set up was "a very sophisticated and ongoing enterprise", but said that both Quan and Zhang had come from poor and uneducated backgrounds in China.
"We wouldn't expect they were skilled enough to organise the set up, nor know what to do with the end product," Mr Fernandez said.
"(They were) isolated by language and culture, and vulnerable... to exploitation."
The pair watered the cannabis crop, tended to the plants and moved the pots around so they each received enough artificial light.
The court heard Quan did the majority of the work.
A property raided at the same time in Evatt found a similar set up cared for by another Chinese couple.
The court heard the two properties were linked and police have now arrested another man believed to be involved.
In sentencing, ACT Supreme Court Chief Justice Helen Murrell said she accepted Quan and Zhang were taken advantage of, and only earned enough money to sustain themselves.
"Perhaps desperate people... certainly not the masterminds behind the enterprise," the Chief Justice said.
Both have been held in custody since they were arrested in April.
Zhang will be released later this week into the custody of immigration officials.
Quan was sentenced to a longer period of two years and three months in jail.
He will also be deported upon release.
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