SHE was the brains behind one of Hampshire's first cannabis factories - and it was a career that made her a millionaire.

Known as "Miss Boss" to other gang members, Ha Nguyen was at the helm of the operation that netted her £1m and afforded her a luxury lifestyle including a property in London.

The 35-year-old was jailed for ten years after being found guilty of conspiring to produce the Class C drug, along with a host of other charges including dishonestly obtaining a mortgage and two counts of converting criminal property.

Once she was jailed, police went after the money she had accumulated from her career in crime, calculating it to be exactly £1m.

It took just ten minutes for Judge Tom Longbottom to order that her available assets of £228,953.15p be seized.

Under the terms of the confiscation hearing at Southampton Crown Court, Nguyen was ordered to surrender her £190,000 London flat, which will go on to the property market.

She will also lose £37,000 in hidden assets and other money police had already confiscated.

Nguyen, who did not oppose the order, was given six months to pay or face a consecutive term of three years to the ten-year sentence imposed last July.

Jurors then heard how Nguyen grew more than 400 cannabis plants with a street value of up to £40,000 by converting a property in Fair Oak into a production line.

During the trial, they were shown a police video of the house in Eastleigh Road, showing the extent of the operation.

The tour started on the ground floor and ended in the attic where plant-growing instructions were found written in Vietnamese.

The property was decked out with high-powered lighting, fertiliser bags and hundreds of plants capable of creating the more powerful skunk cannabis.

The Eastleigh Road factory was one of three specially adapted houses in the area. The others, in Leigh Road and Westwood Road, had been stripped and re-carpeted by the time police discovered them, but still contained traces of cannabis growing.

Nguyen - described by fellow gang members as "Miss Boss" - denied conspiring to produce drugs, dishonestly obtaining a mortgage and converting criminal property.

Two other defendants, Giang Bui, 26, and Cuong Quach, 36 - also with London addresses - were also convicted of conspiring to produce cannabis and were jailed for six years and five years respectively.

Bui has already appeared before in court for a confiscation hearing. Though his benefit figure was set at £27,185, his realisable assets amounted to £2,163 which he immediately paid.

The other defendant will return to the city crown court next month for his figure to be determined.

For the full story, see today's Daily Echo.