A Vietnamese man who allegedly paid $45,000 for a painting job and a New Zealand visa was instead put to work in an inner-city cannabis operation, a situation his lawyer said is becoming increasingly common.

“The land of milk and honey is now the land of weed,” Anh Nguyen’s lawyer submitted as his client stood alongside his co-worker Nghia Tran moments before both men were jailed.

Tran and Nguyen appeared in the Whangārei District Court on Thursday before Judge Peter Davey on cultivation of cannabis charges after their plot was discovered in early 2024.

On September 21, 2023 police tracked Tran to an address in Rānui, Auckland where 158 cannabis plants were growing with 42 of the plants being mature and the others at various stages of propagation.

Then in April, 2024 police executed a search warrant at a downtown warehouse in Whangārei where they discovered seven gib-lined rooms with artificial lights and growing cannabis plants.

In total, 341 plants were discovered and Nguyen, 37, and Tran, 40, were found in the warehouse in charge of the operation.

Inside the warehouse where Tran and Nguyen were caught by police. Photo / Police

Judge Davey said the operation was diverting power which was effectively “stolen” and using close to $300 per day.

After being charged, the men, who speak no English, went into custody and at their sentencing their lawyers Jarrod Griffin and Julie Young outlined the circumstances the men found themselves in.

While in Vietnam, Nguyen responded to a Facebook post advertising jobs in New Zealand along with visas.

He paid $45,000 to come on a valid work visa as a painter, yet when he arrived, things took a turn.

“New Zealand is sold to these people as the land of milk and honey and they get here, and it’s the land of weed.

“The head honcho of the ‘company’ is Vietnamese so something very large is deep at play here, its a wider issue.

“It appears to me this is happening more and more frequently in Northland, these Vietnamese promised a life under a false pretence. The painting job turns into a cannabis propagation with no family, no relatives and no home address in New Zealand,” Griffin submitted.

Young said her client, Tran, also believed he was coming to work as a builder and then found himself living under “foul terms”.

“He was given a contact to which he got in touch with a person who used him.

“It’s for various reasons and difficulties in language and his circumstances he finds himself here in New Zealand,” Young said.

Crown lawyer Danette Cole said there was no evidence the pair came to New Zealand under false pretences and Tran had been caught twice in six months.

When arrested, both admitted working in the operation for at least two months.

Judge Davey accepted their involvement in the operation was on the lower scale.

“I accept for both of you serving time in a New Zealand prison is more difficult because you cannot speak English,” Judge Davey said.

As the men had no options for home detention, Tran was jailed for 27 months' imprisonment and Nguyen 20 months.

They will likely face deportation on release.

It comes after Vietnamese man Oai Duc Truong was jailed for a large cultivation in Te Kōpuru in 2020. That same year another man, The Le, was also jailed after being found to have been in charge of a $1.4 million crop in Maungatapere.

And, later this week another five Vietnamese nationals are facing sentencing in the Whangārei District Court for their roles in a separate operation in Ruawai.

Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.