April 12, 2021 4.13 pm This story is over 35 months old

Lincoln woman at heart of multi-million cannabis operation has assets confiscated

She was part of a national operation
Thuy Phan has benefitted from over £1 million due to her crimes, the judge said. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police

A woman at the centre of a £1 million cannabis growing operation had her assets confiscated after a hearing at Lincoln Crown Court.

Thuy Phan, 30, had £34,640 confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act. The amount includes a car and money held in bank accounts which are currently the subject of a restraining order.

Judge John Pini QC ruled that her benefit from crime was £1,362,747 with her available assets ordered to be confiscated.

She was given three months to hand over the amount or face a further six months in prison.

Phan, of Lime Crescent, Lincoln, appeared at today’s hearing via video link from Peterborough Prison where she is serving a sentence of six years and nine months imposed in November 2020 for offences of conspiracy to produce cannabis, possession of criminal property, conversion of criminal property and transferring criminal property.

Hearings to consider the confiscation of assets of three men were adjourned to next month.

Zaiur Rahman, 33, Moinul Islam, 42, and Thai Han, 28, were also involved in the national cannabis growing operation. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police

Ziaur Rahman, 33, of Hillingdon, West London; Moinul Islam, 42, of Hillingdon, West London; and Thai Han ,28, of Lime Crescent, Lincoln; all admitted conspiracy to produce cannabis and were sentenced in November.

Thuy Phan and Thai Han were arrested in January 2019 whilst driving back to Lincoln. A bag containing £14,625 cash was found in the back of their vehicle.

The subsequent police investigation revealed that between November 2017 and November 2019, four properties in Lincoln and a further property in Middlesbrough had been rented to grow cannabis.

The Lincoln properties were in Euston Close, Grafton Street, Drake Street and Monks Road.

The street value of the cannabis recovered from these addresses was up to £988,680.

Officers also discovered that the grow in Monks Road was being run by a victim of modern slavery.

During the investigation officers discovered that Thuy Phan was in control of over 30 bank accounts.

A large number of these belonged to Vietnamese students living in the UK, who she paid in order to use their bank accounts.

It was identified that these accounts had a turnover of over £2.3m which Phan had laundered back to Vietnam. Han had played a key role in renting the properties for the cannabis grows.

Further inquiries identified that both Islam and Rahman had been working with Thuy Phan and Thai Han resulting in the two men being arrested in July 2019.