307 marijuana plants seized from Strathmerton crop house

He is charged with cultivating a commercial quantity of a narcotic plant and possessing marijuana.

He has not entered pleas to either of the charges.

Police allege 307 plants of varying stages of maturity were found in 10 different rooms of the house.

There was also a “drying room” in a shed, police said.

The court heard an electrical bypass had been done at the Strathmerton property.

Police say Mr Bui was found leaving the back door of the house, and was carrying keys to the building.

While he normally lives in the Melbourne suburb of Sunshine, the court heard Mr Bui admitted to police he had been living at the Strathmerton house.

The court was also told that in a police interview, Mr Bui said he was asked by someone he met at Centrelink to live there and care for the marijuana plants.

Prosecution documents also show that during the interview Mr Bui “admitted to mixing chemicals with water, and caring for the plants”.

“He also admitted to planting cuttings and attempting to grow new plants,” the prosecution documents said.

Cobram Crime Investigation Unit Senior Constable Amy McColl told the court police did not have an estimated worth of the drugs seized yet.

However, she said some plants were “quite mature”.

“The accused told me he was going to be harvesting in three to four weeks,” she said.

The prosecution argued that Mr Bui was a flight risk who could go back to his native Vietnam, but his defence solicitor Anthony Coote told the court Mr Bui was a permanent Australian residents who had lived in the country for 10 years and had a wife and child in Australia.

Mr Coote also asked for bail, saying his client had ties to the community, there would be delays in the case going to court, he could live with his sister in St Albans, he had no drug or alcohol issues and he had never breached any court orders.

Prosecutor Acting Sergeant Caitlin McLeod, however, argued that if found guilty, any time he spent on remand before the matter went to court would not exceed any sentence he would receive.

Magistrate Peter Dunn agreed and refused bail.

Mr Bui will face court again in September.