Roman Le, 37, has been convicted for orchestrating a vast cannabis production network across the UK while masquerading as a Bentley-driving property developer.
Le cultivated an image of a legitimate businessman, driving his Bentley Continental and overseeing what appeared to be property developments, even going so far as to erect scaffolding on buildings to mask illegal activity. Behind this façade, however, his associates operated at least eight cannabis farms in residential and commercial properties spanning the Midlands, North West, and North Lincolnshire.
Among the sites seized during National Crime Agency (NCA) operations were a disused nightclub in Coventry, a former public house in Birmingham, and an old hotel in Lancashire. Dramatic footage showed NCA officers breaking down doors and arresting Le at the Birmingham location, while other gang members were apprehended at the Big Bamboo nightclub in Coventry.
Drone surveillance captured gang members outside the Coventry site, unaware they were being filmed. Police later uncovered 1,500 cannabis plants worth over £1 million across three floors of the premises. Another location, the Old Wellington Hotel in Clayton-le-Moors, contained more than 300 plants, with the gang’s operations manager, Yihao Feng, 29, spotted arriving in a Maserati sports car.
Many of the cannabis farms were staffed by exploited Vietnamese and Albanian illegal migrants. Feng pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce cannabis, and fellow gang member David Zaki Qayumi had also admitted his involvement.
Le denied any knowledge of the cannabis operations, insisting he was a legitimate property developer. However, after an eight-day trial at Birmingham Crown Court, he was convicted of conspiring to produce cannabis.
NCA Branch Commander Kevin Broadhead stated, “Roman Le claimed he was a legitimate property developer, but in reality, he fronted an organised crime gang producing millions of pounds worth of cannabis. The growers were often exploited migrants smuggled into the UK. Together with policing partners, we have dismantled this sophisticated criminal enterprise.”
