March 10, 2021 11.06 am
This story is over 15 months old
Lincoln duo part of national cannabis gang jailed for 22 years
A nationwide operation worth millions
Thai Phong Han (left) and Thuy Phan (right) were jailed for a combined of nine years and nine months for drug growing and dealing. | Photos: Lincolnshire Police
Five members of a gang that operated multi-million pound cannabis grows in Lincoln and Middlesbrough have been jailed for a total of 22 years.
The group had rented properties on Euston Close, Grafton Street, Drake Street and Monks Road in Lincoln to grow cannabis inside, as well as one on Lambeth Road in Middlesbrough, between November 2017 and 2019.
These cannabis grows were recovered by police, and the plants amounted to a street value of almost £1 million.
One of the many cannabis grows being operated by the gang. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police
It was thought that the properties had the capacity to be producing up to £3 million of cannabis every year.
Thuy Phan, 30, and Thai Phong Han, 28, both of Lime Crescent in Lincoln, were arrested on January 18, when they were driving into Lincoln.
Police stopped the vehicle and found a bag containing £14,625 in cash in the back of the vehicle.
As investigations took place, it was discovered that Thuy Phan was in control of over 30 bank accounts, belonging mainly to Vietnamese students living in the UK.
She had paid these students to have access to their bank accounts, and it was found that Phan’s accounts had a turnover of £2.3 million, which was all laundered back to Vietnam.
Both Phan and Han were charged with conspiracy to produce cannabis and possession of criminal property, but Phan was also charged with conversion and transferring of criminal property.
Phan was jailed for six years and nine months, and Han was sentenced to three years imprisonment.
Officers continued their inquiries and eventually found three men from London who were working with Thuy Phan and Thai Han.
Moinul Islam and Ziaur Rahman, two of the men, were arrested on July 22, 2019 and large quantities of drugs and cash were found at Rahman’s home.
Cannabis, over £20,000 in cash, and high purity cocaine with a £40,000 street value were found at the address in London.
Islam, 42, of Mill Bridge Place, Hillingdon, London, was jailed for three and a half years after breaching a serious crime prevention order and being charged with conspiracy to produce cannabis.
Rahman, 33, of Frays Way, Hillingdon, London, was sentenced to four years and eight months in jail.
The third man from London, Ahmad Muslim, was arrested on September 8, 2019 in connection with renting a van for Rahman which was used to transport cannabis equipment to Lincoln.
Ahman Muslim, 35, of Halsway in Hillingdon, London, will be sentenced at a later date.
Finally, Phi Hung Nguyen, 27, of Lambeth Road, Middlesbrough was arrested on November 14, 2019 when a key to his cannabis grow was found by officers on his key ring.
Four of the five sentenced defendants pleaded guilty to their charges, except for Nguyen who was found guilty on March 4 and jailed for five years.
Detective Constable James Brown from the Serious & Organised Crime Unit at Lincolnshire Police says: “This case highlights the other types of criminality that can be involved in cannabis operations including exploiting others.
“We will robustly tackle any offences linked to organised crime and where necessary, pursue offenders across the country.
“I have no doubts that this criminality would have continued to grow had the operation been able to continue.”
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A 38-year-old man from a North Lincolnshire village charged with murder will face an eight-day trial later this year.
Emergency services were called at 4.23am on Saturday, July 2 to reports that a man was seriously injured on South Parade in central Doncaster.
The 28-year-old victim was taken to hospital but was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
A post-mortem examination found that he died of injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.
Formal identification of the victim is yet to take place, South Yorkshire Police said earlier this week.
Steven Ling, 38, of Park Drain, Westwoodside in North Lincolnshire, has been charged with murder and was remanded in custody to appear at Doncaster Magistrates Court on Monday, July 4.
Ling later appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, July 5 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
No pleas were entered during the hearing, but an eight-day trial was set for November 28, 2022. Ling has now been remanded into custody until the next hearing.
The Lincolnite went on a ride-along with a Lincolnshire Police officer from the force’s Roads Policing Unit (RPU), which aims to disrupt criminals’ use of the roads and reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents.
The team will support the county response including local policing, neighbourhood policing and criminal investigation too.
Operations first began in Grantham in January this year and started in Louth earlier this week with a sergeant and nine PCs based in both locations.
The Lincolnite went out on a ride-along with PC Rich Precious from Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
PC Rich Precious has been a police officer for 22 years after joining the force in 2000 and he recently rejoined the Roads Policing Unit, working out of Louth.
PC Precious, who also previously worked as a family liaison officer for road deaths for 16 years, took The Lincolnite out in his police car to the A1 up to Colsteworth and then back to Grantham. He described that particular area as “one of the main arterial routes that goes through Lincolnshire”.
PC Rich Precious driving down the A1 up to Colsterworth. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Speaking about the new Roads Policing Unit, he said: “It’s intelligence led policing, it’s targeted policing in areas that have been underrepresented in terms of police presence, on the roads certainly, over a number of years.
“We’re hoping that the development of this unit will help address that balance, and look towards using the ANPR system to prevent criminals’ use of the road, and to identify key areas or routes where there’s a high percentage of people killed or seriously injured on the road, what we commonly refer to as KSI.
PC Precious is helping to keep the roads safer in Lincolnshire. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
When asked if he thinks the new team will help reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents in the county, he added: “That’s what the the unit designed for. Sadly, in Lincolnshire our road network does seem to incur a number of those KSI accidents year on year, and we need to reduce that.
“I’ve worked additionally in my roles as a family liaison officer on road death for 16 years, so I’ve seen first hand the impact that road death has on families and victims families.
“I know it’s important that we try and reduce those because, it’s very sad to see how a fatal road traffic collision can affect a family and the victims of that family.”
Marc Gee, Inspector for Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Marc Gee, Inspector for the Roads Policing Unit, told The Lincolnite: “Every day there will be officers on duty from both teams and they’ll cover the whole county or the county’s roads.
“Eventually, we’ll have nine police cars and we’ve got six motorbikes. We’ll be utilising them with as many officers as we can every day basically to make our roads safer and enforce against the criminals who feel like it’s okay to come into the county and use our road for criminal purposes.”
Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones at the launch of the force’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
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