At least the sentences are fair (even if prohibition isn’t) – they are exactly the same as an English youth would have got for an offence on the same scale. it is more humane for these young people to go to prison in Britain and be deported back to their countries afterwards (as they have been through due process) – sending them back as unprocessed criminals could still put them at risk of the death penalty.
This is also a relatively remote area of Suffolk (compared to say Ipswich, Lowestoft or even Stowmarket), where someone with different skin colour will be noticed by locals and it would thus have been difficult for them to be in the UK without correct documents, but there are still a fair few Asian people in those areas.
Only one of the lads is to be deported, the 18 year old who had already been nicked for this in 2011 in another part of the UK.
The other will serve time probably at HMYOI Warren Hill (not a pleasant place to be, he might not want to remain in the UK much longer); the prosecution could not prove that the young woman played a major part in this crime.
It does look more like they were here legitimately as students and decided to grow this stuff to pay for tuition fees or other expenses (and perhaps to make friends with younger locals) but thats always a risky thing to do in any country as an immigrant as the other locals can inform on you…
A Vietnamese national, who helped produce 1,300 cannabis plants at a property in Suffolk, has been jailed and faces deportation.
Hung Tran, 18, of Long Melford was arrested in June after police found the drug-growing operation at a property on Withindale Lane in the village.
He admitted the offence and was jailed for two years at Ipswich Crown Court.
Tran was told he will face automatic deportation at the end of his prison sentence.
Hoc Nguyen, 18, admitted producing cannabis at the same premises and was sentenced to eight months in a young offenders institution when he appeared at Ipswich Crown Court in July.
A third defendant, Dung Hoang, 23, also of Long Melford, had the same charge against her dropped last year after the prosecution offered no evidence.
