Man in court after £360k cannabis farm found in Penrith town centre business

A man has appeared in court accused of drug production after a huge cannabis farm was found inside a premises in Penrith town centre.

Thanh Nguyen, aged 24, faces one charge. This was brought following the execution of a warrant at a retail outlet branded as a dress shop in Middlegate at about 7am yesterday.

Officers forced entry and a Cumbria Police spokesman said: “The warrant was positive with officers locating a substantial cannabis grow with over 950 plants.”

A man was arrested and taken into custody.

Nguyen appeared in front of a district judge at Carlisle's magistrates’ court on Friday morning.

He was assisted by a Vietnamese interpreter during a five-minute hearing. Nguyen spoke to confirm his name, date of birth and that he had no fixed address.

District judge John Temperley noted that the cannabis farm had been a “large scale operation”.

Plants could have yielded an illegal substance with a potential total street value of a £250,000 or more, he noted.

Prosecutor George Shelley said that estimated value could rise to £360,000.

Cumbria Police had previously given the figure of “half a million”.

After reading case papers, the district judge concluded: “In my view this case is too serious to be dealt with in this court, so I will be sending the case to a higher court.”

Nguyen is due to appear in front of a judge at Carlisle Crown Court on 9 August.

Nguyen was remanded in custody ahead of his next court appearance.

Inspector Mo Bibby, from the Eden Neighbourhood Policing Team, said in the aftermath of yesterday’s discovery: “Where we receive intelligence of criminality in our community, particularly where that information relates to allegations of drug supply, action will be taken.

“We are proactive in our approach in intelligence gathering to target drug supply in our area and are committed to making our communities safer.

“Although we are proactive we continue to encourage anyone with suspicions that illegal activity is taking place in their community to come forward so that intelligence can be acted upon by our officers to make our community a safer place.”

Anyone with information about illegal drug activity should contact police by reporting your information online on the Cumbria Police website or by calling 101.

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