An illegal migrant who tended a £1.5million cannabis farm above a luxury restaurant has been jailed for three years.
Le Thanh Long, 23, worked as a gardener at an industrial-scale grow house as oblivious guests continued to ‘enjoy fine dining’ just a few floors below at the Casa Brighouse hotel and restaurant on Elland Road, Bradford.
When police raided the venue on August 5 last year, they discovered more than 1,700 cannabis plants spread across 13 grow rooms on the upper floors of the restaurant.
The crop could have been worth around £499,100 in wholesale value and £1,426,000 at street value, while there was also evidence of an ‘obvious previous cannabis harvest’, Bradford Crown Court heard.
Cops uncovered the cannabis farm after realising the venue’s electricity supply had been bypassed and reconnected from the street.
Long had been hiding at the premises during the police raid before making a bid to escape. However he was detained by officers at a nearby bus stop.
Following the raid, the owners of Casa Brighouse stressed that its ‘customers, team, and the wider community’ had no involvement in the drugs operation.
The hotel and restaurant, where the most expensive menu items included a £75 chateaubriand steak, has since been taken over by new owners.
Prosecutor Nadim Bashir told the court how when cops raided the venue, they discovered a new extension had been converted into a cannabis farm.
He added that Long worked as a ‘gardener’ for the weed operation while ‘Casa’s guests continued to enjoy fine dining on the ground floor.’
Mr Bashir said it was ‘an operation capable of producing industrial quantities [of cannabis] for commercial use.’
Mitigating for Long, Jeremy Barton claimed he had performed a lesser role in the operation and received help from others.
He said: ‘Whilst not a victim of modern slavery, there are still elements of something along those lines.’
Judge Kirstie Watson told Long: ‘You were in this country illegally and entered for economic purposes.
‘You were part of this operation for at least four months from April to August [2024] when you were arrested. You must therefore have known about the scale of the operation.
‘I accept that having entered this country illegally looking for work, that vulnerability was no doubt exploited by others.’
The Casa hotel facebook page wrote on Facebook on August 20 saying it was ‘aware of the recent speculation surrounding criminal activity in close proximity to Casa’.
‘While it is true that we own the building itself, it is important to clarify that the premises in question are leased out to a third-party company that is entirely separate from Casa,’ it added.
The hotel had its premises licence as police investigated the grow operation last year, which was later restored after it was taken over by new owners.
Calderdale Council granted the transfer of the Casa’s licence to the Anderson Group during a meeting of its licensing sub-committee in September that year.
Long, of Withington Road in Manchester, was found guilty of being concerned in the production of cannabis and was jailed for three years.
Judge Watson also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs and paraphernalia recovered from the raid.
Long was found not guilty of being involved in another cannabis farm at the former Ritz Ballroom on Bradford Road in Brighouse.
Also acquitted were other Vietnamese nationals Long Van Le, 32, Tuan Le Viet, 34, Anhtuan Puan Nguyen, 18, and Phuong Nguyen, 22, all of Bradford Road, Brighouse.