A Vietnamese overstayer who vanished for several years after he was caught running cannabis “grow houses” out of two neighbouring South Auckland rental homes has finally been sentenced, eight years after the initial raid. Authorities lost track of Dinh Vuong, 41, when he didn’t show up for sentencing in October 2018. But they caught up with him again in July 2022, inside a Mt Eden home that was being raided after another long-running undercover investigation into cannabis cultivation and money laundering. This time, Vuong was found in possession of nearly 5kg of cannabis that had been packaged for supply in large resealable bags. His explanation, that they were the very same plants that police sloppily left behind after the 2018 raid, defied belief, Crown prosecutor Arahi von Sturmer-Karanui argued last week as Vuong appeared in Auckland District Court for sentencing on both charges. Judge Belinda Sellars agreed. Dinh Vuong in Auckland District Court for his sentencing this month after police raids on his rental homes in 2018 and 2022. Photo / Jason Dorday “You state that you had kept that for your private use,” the judge noted. “I do not accept that. I consider it self-serving and lacks credibility.” Because of the claim, an earlier sentencing date for Vuong had been postponed so that prosecutors could obtain an affidavit from police confirming that all of the cannabis discovered in the 2018 raid had been removed from the address and destroyed. “It is simply not credible,” the judge added of Vuong’s claim. ‘Personal use’ Vuong and his partner, co-defendant Thi Thai Van, were living together in April 2018 when police raided their Paerata Rd home in Pukekohe. They had been living in the lounge while the rest of the three-bedroom house served another purpose, court documents state. Police found 62 plants in the bedrooms. They found 85 more plants at a neighbouring unoccupied four-bedroom home also rented by Vuong. Police also recorded finding heat lamps, ducting, filters, light timers and irrigation systems to aid the indoor growing process. Tarpaulins covered the windows, stapled down with plywood. The electricity for both homes had been diverted from another address. “The defendant Vuong admitted to growing the cannabis at both addresses but said that the cannabis was for personal use,” the agreed summary of facts for his 2018 case states. The pair caught authorities’ attention again after the launch in December 2021 of Operation Bush, focusing on money laundering by cannabis-cultivating organised crime groups. Police involved in Operation Bush show some of the cannabis found during a series of raids in July 2022. Photo / NZ Police Their new home in Mt Eden was raided eight months into the investigation, resulting in the discovery of 11 pounds (almost 5kg) of cannabis. “Evidence of supply and money laundering was also located, including cash located in a handbag belonging to Ms Van and over 500 cash deposit receipts located in the same handbag belonging to Ms Van, the bedroom occupied by Ms Van, the kitchen and lounge,” court documents state. “A further 56 used large-format resealable bags were also located at the address containing cannabis residue.” Van, 57, was set to be sentenced in a separate hearing this week, but it was postponed to April. Once grown, twice caught? Vuong faced up to seven years’ imprisonment for the 2018 charge of cultivating cannabis, and up to eight years for the 2021 charge of possessing cannabis for supply. Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield, KC, argued that his client should be sentenced as if it were one continuing offence, due to Vuong’s claim that it was the same cannabis for which he was twice caught. Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield, KC. Photo / Michael Craig “He went back to the property [in 2018] and there were quite a lot of cannabis remains, and he took them with him,” Mansfield said of his client. “They [police] hardly sweep it clean.” The judge was unconvinced, to which Mansfield replied:...