VIETNAMESE gangsters bought up cheap properties in the North-East to turn them into massive cannabis farms, a court heard yesterday.

'Babysitters' or 'caretakers' were sent to mind operations at each property, often to repay debts to criminals.

The operation was revealed after police raided a house occupied by Duong Ho.

Ho fell into debt paying for family funerals, took out a loan to cover the cost, then foolishly gambled it and lost. He found himself in huge debt to hardened criminals.

The Vietnamese chef was put on a train from London to Darlington, where he was met and taken to a house in the County Durham community of West Cornforth.

The terms of the deal were straightforward: for every successful crop, £2,500 was wiped off his debts.

Yesterday, he was jailed for two years at Durham Crown Court after police targeted the house in the village High Street during a series of raids in September.

The court heard much of the premises was given over to the hydroponic growth of cannabis, with a potential yield worth tens of thousands.

Plants were recovered from five rooms, which had windows blacked out and were fitted with high-powered lighting and irrigation ducts.

Henry Trory, prosecuting, said 215 plants were reaching maturity, with 54 others earlier in the growth cycle. The mature plants had a total value of about £17,600, and could yield more than £31,000.

Ho, 36, the only person present, was arrested and told officers he had gambling debts of £25,000 and was sent by a Mr Lam to work at the house. Ho told officers some plants had already been harvested.

Mr Trory said: "It seems to be part of a greater organisation to cultivate cannabis."

The court heard that Ho has previously served jail terms of three and ten years respectively for robberies in the West Midlands and the North-West, but has been out of trouble since his release in 1997.

Rebecca Young, mitigating, said Ho was only involved in the West Cornforth house.

She said: "Given the scale of this operation, his was a relatively minor role. Clearly, this is a sophisticated and well organised gang responsible for the production and farming of cannabis, but it was accepted by the Crown he played only a small part in it."

Ho had been living at the house for two-and-a-half months when it was raided.

Miss Young said Ho borrowed the money while working in Chinatown in London, and he was told he could pay off his debt by minding one of the properties.

However, she said there was only one successful crop and a lot of plants were ruined because the lights were too hot.

Ho, of Romford, Essex, admitted being concerned in the production of a controlled drug.

Jailing him, Judge Richard Lowden said: "You became involved in a highly professional, large-scale production of cannabis, which was worth tens of thousands of pounds and, if it continued, maybe hundreds of thousands. The organisers seem to be targeting this part of the world where comparatively cheap property could be acquired."

Judge Lowden ordered confiscation of Ho's mobile phone and destruction of the plants and growing material seized.

* In a separate case yesterday, two other Vietnamese men, Thane van Liu, 42, of Brancepeth Road, Ferryhill, County Durham, and Hai van Tran, 55, of Nightingale Vale, London, denied being concerned in the production of cannabis.

They were arrested in raids on addresses in Murphy Crescent, Bishop Auckland, and Collingwood Street, Coundon, in September. Both were remanded in custody to stand trial at Newcastle Crown Court on February 6.