Three people have been jailed for more than nine years after police discovered 1,027 cannabis plants in a city centre flat.
Ha Le, 25, and Hai Le, 36, also known as Trung Le, claimed to have been kept prisoner at the property and were promised £500 per month to water the plants.
And Cho Chan, 60, performed a “janitorial role” and brought food packages for the men to try to pay off debts to illegal money lenders.
The trio appeared in court after cops uncovered the mammoth haul, valued at up to £831,870, at an address on Langstane Place on July 3.
Fiscal depute Katy Begg told Aberdeen Sheriff Court: “The first floor has six rooms, five of which were used as growing areas.
“Cho Chan had keys to the locus and assisted with cultivation.
“During June 2018, police received intelligence that cannabis cultivation was being grown within the locus.”
Police raided the property on July 3 and found Ha and Hai Le “in a cupboard”. Ms Begg said Hai Le told police he was “taken” to the address and tasked with watering the plants for £500 per month, but no money had been paid. She said: “He advised he was too frightened to flee the address as he believed the persons employing him would be watching.”
Ha Le also told police he feared he would be “found and beaten” if he tried to leave.
On May 10 2018 police searched Chan’s vehicle and address on Leggart Terrace and found £11,000 worth of cannabis.
Ha and Hai Le previously pled guilty to producing and being concerned in the supply of cannabis.
Chan admitted producing and supplying cannabis.
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Defence agent Charlie Benzies, representing Ha Le, said his client was a “minor, albeit necessary, player in this enterprise”.
Paul Barnett, representing Hai Le, said: “He maintains he was trafficked into the UK in 2010 and he explains he found it difficult to see any safe alternative to doing what he did.”
Ms Begg said: “The Home Office rejected the claims of human trafficking.”
Representing Chan, Gregor Kelly said he had a gambling problem and owed thousands of pounds to “illegal money lenders”, moving drugs and carrying out a “janitorial” role in a bid to pay off the debt.
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin sentenced both Ha and Hai Le, of HMP Grampian, to three years each in prison.
Chan, also a prisoner at HMP Grampian, was jailed for 40-and-a-half months.
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