AN ILLEGAL immigrant from Vietnam has been jailed for a second time for operating a cannabis factory in Carmarthenshire.

Dau Thang, aged 45, was jailed for two years and four months in 2009 for managing a massive cannabis farm in Llanelli.

On Friday, he was jailed for two years and eight months for doing the same thing in Ammanford.

Swansea crown court heard how the landlord of a house in Walter Road became concerned after he discovered the locks had been changed without permission, all the curtains were drawn and he could detect a strong smell of cannabis.

Police looked through a letterbox to see a man running up the stairs and soon detained Thang as he tried to escape.

He admitted being concerned in the production of cannabis.

The court heard the 144 plants found growing in three bedrooms could have yielded drugs with a street value between £51,000 and £69,000.

After his arrest Thang told police he had been smuggled into the UK in the back of a lorry and driven to Ammanford "by a white man" who told him to look after the plants in return for £1,000 a month.

Tom Scrapens, his barrister, said he had had no influence over those "higher up the drugs chain" and had been little more than a gardener.

The Judge, Mr Recorder Richard Williams, said, "He's been there before.

"He was a volunteer, there is no evidence here of being coerced of trafficking. He had done it before.

"His was a significant role in a commercial operation," he added.

The judge also ordered the confiscation of £135 in cash found on Thang.