A VIETNAMESE man trafficked into the country was forced to grow cannabis in exchange for food and shelter.

Dau Ba Phuong was found trying to escape out of a back door when police raided the house on Redworth Road, in Shildon on June 16.

Durham Crown Court heard how the terraced property was filled with 333 cannabis plants that had a street value of up to £166,500.

Victoria Lamballe, prosecuting, said: “Inside the property the passage way was partially blocked by a bed frame that was being used as a barricade.

“The entire downstairs had been used for cannabis production. The set up was typical of its type, there were lamps, plastic sheeting and heat fans.

“Upstairs the officers discovered a similar set up, three of the four bedrooms were full of cannabis plants and the fourth bedroom had a number of propagators with seeds growing inside them.”

Ms Lamballe said the electricity supply had also been bypassed.

When the father-of-one was interviewed he admitted watering and caring for the plants and said that in exchange he was given a place to sleep, food and a phone to contact his family back home.

Chris Morrison, mitigating, said Phuong entered the country in February this year from the Ha Tinh Province looking for a “better life”.

The 32-year-old was trafficked into the country in the back of a lorry.

Mr Morrison said: “He hoped that he would make something of himself, however he did not speak a word of English and had no way of making a living.

“He was so destitute that when he was offered the arrangement he took it. He was there for 20 days before he was found by police.

“It was an act of desperation on his part, which can be highlighted by the fact that he initially ran away but then turned back and handed himself to the police because he quite clearly had nowhere else to go.

“He wishes he had never came to the UK and when he returns he will be warning others of the perils of doing so.”

Judge Bryan Cox told the defendant that he accepted that he was “to a certain extent exploited by others” and that he found himself in a difficult circumstance.

He added: “You allowed yourself to become involved in a sophisticated cannabis growing operation and those who allow themselves to become involved in this sort of operation are invariable sent to prison.”

Phuong pleaded guilty to one charge of producing cannabis and was sentenced to two months in prison. He will also be put forward for deportation back to Vietnam.