Empty Underwood Leisure Centre in Newport was turned into a cannabis factory capable of producing £1.6 million in drugs, trial told

More than 2,600 viable plants were found at the disused Underwood Leisure Centre two years ago.

It was one of a number of properties across the country being used to grow cannabis in an "extensive and audacious" drugs operation, said to worth several million pounds.

Empty Underwood Leisure Centre in Newport was turned into a cannabis factory capable of producing £1.6 million in drugs, trial told

The details emerged at the start of the trial of a Vietnamese man alleged to have controlled a work force of illegal immigrants to act as 'gardeners' in the cultivation of the cannabis plants.

Toi Van Le, 51, who has had addresses in Telford, Birmingham and London, denies 10 charges of conspiring to produce cannabis between January 2006, and May this year.

Other cannabis factories were discovered at an empty bank, a former doctor's surgery, and at several terraced houses, in Shropshire, Staffordshire, West Midlands, Lincolnshire and Cumbria.

Robert Price, prosecuting, told the jury at Shrewsbury Crown Court, that in August 2014, police raided Underwood Leisure Centre, on Waltwood Road in Llanmartin, and found cannabis being expertly grown on an 'industrial scale'.

"This was a huge facility with over 2,600 viable plants and all the necessary equipment - estimated to have cost £30,000 - was in place in 10 growing areas of the building," said Mr Price.

"The plants found were capable of producing 132 kilos of cannabis worth £1.6 million if sold as street deals."

He said there was also living accommodation and three 'gardeners' - all illegal Vietnamese immigrants - were arrested.

Police were able to link Van Le to the leisure centre in the months before the raid, from the Satnav device in his Audi car which featured a post code for the area.

Cameras also put his Audi car near the premises in April 2014, and the movement of the phone of one of the arrested men had travelled between Telford and Gwent at same time as Van Le's Audi.

"The only sensible inference is that the two men were travelling together and it was Van le organising his workforce and driving one of the gardeners to the leisure centre," added Mr Price.

Another gardener had left a phone at the premises which revealed text messages and details of Van Le's Telford address and post code.

The jury has been told police were able to link Van Le to 11 cannabis factories - the one in Newport, and a further four in Stoke-on-Trent, two in Birmingham and others in Telford, Burton-on-Trent, Grimsby and Egremont in Cumbria.

Mr Price said 10 of the premises related to the charges Van Le has denied. In the case of one of the houses in Stoke-on-Trent Van Le had pleaded guilty to conspiring to produce cannabis at the premises.

"The prosecution say Toi Van Le has been involved in the production of cannabis for years," said Mr Price. "It is a highly lucrative business and he did it on an audacious scale up and down the country."

The jury was told Van Le had come to the attention of police on several occasions and an investigation launched by West Mercia detectives had traced the full extent of his alleged criminal activity.

Mr Price said the inquiries included the painstaking analysis of CCTV footage, automatic number plate recognition information, Satnav material, mobile phone data and cell-site locations - all used to identify the movements of individuals, phones and vehicles - as well as the discovery of some DNA and finger print evidence.

The trial is expected to last three weeks.