Vietnamese man caught with 5 kg of cannabis in Australia

On Tuesday last week, officers stopped a Toyota Camry in Beechboro and found the drug in the trunk, The Canberra Times newspaper reported.

The driver was a Vietnamese national who did not have a valid visa. The police then searched his house in nearby Balga and found AUD12,000 ($8,500) in cash.

He, and a passenger in the car, have been charged with drug- and cash-related offences.

It is not known whether the police had been tipped off about the consignment or the seizure was the result of a routine search.

Last year Australia had set up a police taskforce to target cannabis cultivation in houses across Western Australia believed to be mostly by crime gangs.

The taskforce has frozen more than AUD8 million ($5.7 million) in cash and assets and seized almost 12,000 cannabis plants, according to the latest Western Australia Police annual report.

Last month five Vietnamese nationals pleaded guilty to involvement with a $2.8 million cannabis operation in Maitland, New South Wales. In September another Vietnamese man was sentenced to five years in jail for growing $750,000 worth of cannabis and stealing $151,000 worth of electricity.

It is a crime to be caught with cannabis in Australia. However, possession of a small amount for personal use is considered illegal but not a criminal offense in several states.