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ABSTRACT
Many Vietnamese have been recruited to be involved in the processes for hydroponic cannabis growth in Australia despite law enforcement agencies attempting to crack down on these activities in recent decades. The clandestine nature of Vietnamese cannabis cultivation syndicates often creates inherent challenges in conducting reliable empirical research. Therefore, to fully understand those groups’ organisational structures and modus operandi, more in-depth research should be conducted using a mixed-methods study to explore ‘inside stories’. This chapter uses triangulated qualitative methods to collect and analyse data from a former Vietnamese cannabis crop-sitter’s memoir, available scholarly literature, and a court/tribunal statement. The findings unveil 1) the nature of the Vietnamese cannabis syndicates in Australia, 2) the typical characteristics of crop-sitters and the factors that have influenced their decisions to join the illegal markets and how criminals preyed on those crop-sitters to look after hydroponic cannabis setups worth millions of dollars, 3) the structure of those groups, and 4) the modus operandi to avoid law enforcement monitors.
