A Victorian woman will face County Court over an alleged hydroponics home, after a committal hearing in Warrnambool Magistrate Court on Friday.
Thi Nguyen, 43, was arrested on May 14th this year, during a raid on a property in Kent Rd, Hamilton.
Police seized 317 live cannabis plants in various stages of growth at the home, as well as 144 power transformers that were being used to power a sophisticated hydroponics setup. Victorian police estimate the value of the plants to be over $600,000. As the dry weight of the plants is unknown, this cannot be verified with some of the latest guidance of local Australian cannabis prices.
The raid was part of a large-scale operation that seized over $3 million in cannabis across six hydroponics homes in Victoria’s South-West. Back in May, Detective Senior Roger McClure issued a warning to criminals, saying:
I suggest you stop investing in the Hamilton area because with the assistance of the Hamilton community we will be seizing the plants and associated equipment.
Ms. Nguyen was arrested and interviewed alongside two male Vietnamese nationals aged 40 and 41. All three were charged with cultivating a commercial quantity of cannabis.
If found guilty, Ms. Nguyen faces a twenty-year prison sentence.
