Man in court over $3.2m cannabis seizures

[Tom]

A MAN appeared in court yesterday charged over a multimillion-dollar cannabis crop.

 

Van Son Tran, 36, of Lansvale, faced Parramatta Local Court on a string of drugs charges, including cultivating cannabis.

 

The charges follow a police operation that spanned three years and which involved raids on several houses in Sydney's south-west.

 

Cannabis plants worth $3.24million were allegedly seized during the operation.

 

Tran was described in court by police as a "key figure in an organised criminal syndication".

 

The latest raid occurred on March 6 on two houses.

 

In a property at Fairfield, police allegedly found two rooms and a garage filled with 143 cannabis plants, with a total estimated street value of $625,000. Lights, heaters and a watering system were also seized.

 

At a Bonnyrigg property, a police raid allegedly netted 60 cannabis plants worth $300,000.

 

The court was told Tran was also charged in relation to a 2005 raid on a house in Bankstown, where police seized cannabis plants worth $1.56million, and a 2006 raid on a house in Cabramatta, where cannabis plants worth $750,000 were found.

 

Tran denied all knowledge of the crimes. He was refused bail.

 

Author: Angela Cuming

Date: July 22, 2007

Source: www.smh.com.au

Copyright: © 2007. The Sydney Morning Herald.

 

The court was told Tran was also charged in relation to a 2005 raid on a house in Bankstown, where police seized cannabis plants worth $1.56million, and a 2006 raid on a house in Cabramatta, where cannabis plants worth $750,000 were found.

Someone would have to be financing him or he's pulling off a few crops that they aren't getting, that's a hell of a lot of equipment he's lost in the last couple of years.

 

[Al B. Fuct]

"Cop price" analysis:

 

143 cannabis plants, with a total estimated street value of $625,000

is $4370.63 per plant. "Cop pricing" in NSW has tended toward $3500 per plant, unknown why this fellow's plants were so speshy.

 

I maintain that the cops bait people into growing cannabis by quoting such absurdly inflated figures. Crass noobs may believe from the news that they actually could GET $4300 per plant and might have a go, only to find that a bit closer to 5-7% of that $4300 figure is realistic.