TWO men arrested tending a domestic cannabis farm claim to be victims of modern day slavery, a court heard.

The pair, aged 31 and 18, of Vietnamese origin, were detained when police discovered the cultivation at an address in Barnard Castle, on Friday July 2.

Officers also found the electricity meter at the property in Birch Road was bypassed to provide free power supply for the operation.

They both appeared at a Durham Crown Court plea hearing via video link from the city’s nearby prison, charged with abstracting electricity and producing a class B drug.

Peter Hamill, representing both, said they were subject to an application to the Home Office under the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) as to whether they were victims of modern day slavery.

As a result, the charges were not put, but a trial date was provisionally set for December 6, for a two-day hearing, depending on the outcome of the application.

The defendants will remain in custody pending the result of the referral review.

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