POLICE seized cannabis plants with an estimated yield of more than £50,000 when they raided two rented houses in Eastleigh.

The plants were being cultivated with sophisticated hydroponic systems with lights, fans, ventilation and large amounts of water, and at both premises the electricity meter had been bypassed.

Prosecutor Rob Welling told Southampton Crown Court that crops worth about £11,000 were found in the first commercial venture in Consort Road. Nhat Dang, who had been tending the plants, was arrested after a neighbour told police.

The landlord of both properties then contacted police, who raided a house in Nutbeam Road, finding almost 200 plants with a potential yield of £40,000.

Dang, pictured, 32, admitted acting as head gardener at Consort Road but his role at the second house was limited to just moving plants from one room to another, he said.

Dang, of no fixed address, admitted being concerned in the production of cannabis and producing the drug.

Recorder Nigel Pascoe QC jailed him for 27 months.

Nichola Attwood, mitigating, said that Dang, married with a young child, entered England from France in the back of a lorry in 2007 and had been training as a technician in London.

Dang will be deported at the end of his prison sentence.