Watch moment Bentley-driving drug kingpin is seized for running network of cannabis farms

A drugs kingpin who made millions running string of cannabis farms across Britain whilst exploiting illegal migrants into forced labour, has been convicted.

Roman Le, 37, swanned around the country in a luxury Bentley Continental, posing as a property developer surveying his empire of residential and commercial properties, even putting up scaffolding around the buildings to make it look like work was taking place.

But behind the façade, his illegal lieutenants were busy inside the properties manufacturing huge quantities of cannabis that was being sold for millions on UK streets.

Vietnamese-born Le ran at least eight cannabis farms in residential and commercial properties, as well as a storage facility housing both equipment and harvested cannabis.

He established cannabis factories across the Midlands, North West and north Lincolnshire including in a disused nightclub in Coventry, a former public house in Birmingham, and an old hotel in Lancashire.

Le worked with co-defendants Yihao Feng, 29, and Afghani-born David Qayumi, 36, to source and operate the properties to be transformed into cannabis forms.

Among them were a disused nightclub in Coventry, a former public house in Birmingham, and an old hotel in Lancashire. Overall the farms were capable of making millions of pounds worth of cannabis.

Qayumi posed as a Birmingham businessman, working with Le to buy, rent or sub-let the properties, while Feng, based in Manchester, acted as an ‘operations manager’ for the group, making sure the factories kept working and that what was happening inside was kept a secret.

Dramatic video footage captured the moment numerous NCA investigators smashed down the door of the former pub in Birmingham and arrested the shocked drugs kingpin.

After putting the fake property tycoon in handcuffs he was then escorted from the premises by two officers.

In another damning clip, officers were seen pinning down two other gang members at the Big Bamboo nightclub in Coventry before placing them under arrest.

National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators had placed the gang under surveillance, watching as Le parked his Bentley outside the former Big Bamboo venue in Coventry before heading inside.

Drone footage of this secret surveillance shows two of the hooded gang members stood outside the site, unaware they were being caught on film.

When the site was later raided, police found 1500 cannabis plants worth more than £1 million spread across three floors.

On another occasion they witnessed the gang’s Chinese-born Feng driving away in his Maserati sports car after visiting the Old Wellington Hotel in Clayton-le-Moors, which was later found to have more than 300 plants growing inside.

Most of the farms were staffed by Vietnamese or Albanian illegal migrants who investigators believe were being exploited due to their immigration status.

The same day Feng was arrested, officers raided the old Queen’s Head public house in Farm Street, Hockley, Birmingham, arresting six Albanian nationals who were operating the farm and seizing more than 300 plants. NCA investigators later found the pub and surrounding land had been sold to a company controlled by Le.

Officers also raided a lock-up storage unit in Aston, Birmingham, which had been leased by Qayumi. They found equipment used to grow cannabis, including lighting units, carbon filters, nutrients, plant pots and grow tents. They also found a number of empty suitcases, which had been used to transport cannabis, and a money counting machine. All three men had previously been observed visiting the site by NCA surveillance teams.

Le was arrested at his home, an apartment in Essex Street, Birmingham, on 4 November 2020, which he shared with his girlfriend, Yihao Feng’s sister.

Both Feng and Qayumi pleaded guilty to conspiring to produce cannabis, but Le denied the charge, claiming he was a legitimate businessman who had no knowledge that the properties he had interests in were being used for cannabis grows.

But following an eight-day trial at Birmingham Crown Court, he was convicted on Thursday of conspiring to produce cannabis.

NCA Branch Commander Kevin Broadhead said: “Roman Le claimed he was a legitimate property developer, but in actual fact he fronted an organised crime gang capable of producing millions of pounds worth of cannabis.

“While he and his co-conspirators oversaw these operations, buying and renting properties on behalf of the growers and reaping the profits, the actual people put to work in them were often exploited migrants who had been smuggled into the UK.

“Working with policing partners we were able to prove these men were involved a sophisticated criminal enterprise.”

All three men will be sentenced on July 4.