Illegal immigrants jailed for drugs

Four Chinese illegal immigrants have been jailed for a total of five and a half years after being arrested for running two cannabis factories in the Wyre Forest area.

Drug squad detectives were keeping watch on house in Park Lane, Kidderminster, on March 30 when a man and a woman were seen leaving with laundry bags found to contain cannabis.

They were followed to an address in Long Acre, in Kidderminster, where they were arrested and documents found for another cannabis factory in Richmond Road, Bewdley.

Mr Charles Hardy, prosecuting at Worcester Crown Court, reckons the two factories had the potential to produce cannabis worth up to £1million.

Yuan Zhou, aged 39, thought to be the manager of the factories, was jailed for two years. His assistant and girlfriend Zhou Huang, 44, was sentenced to 18 months. Qiu Zhou, 22, and Guo Zhuo, 52, were described as "gardeners" and each jailed for a year.

There were 788 plants being cultivated at the Park Lane address. Six rooms had been adapted and the total value of the crop was estimated at £750,000.

At Bewdley, four rooms had been adapted and there were 395 plants under cultivation. Dc Nicholas Logo calculated that the total production from the two factories would have exceeded £1million a year.

The four, who all pleaded guilty to being involved in the cultivation of the drug, will automatically be deported. Judge Daniel Pearce-Higgins QC ordered the destruction of all the plants and equipment.

The Long Acre address was said to be the "office" for the enterprise, which had been set up by people out of the area.