Police found 580 cannabis plants in the house

A judge at the High Court in Edinburgh recommended that Hai Phu Nguyen, 24, should be deported because of his role in organised crime.

Following a tip-off, police raided the house and found enough plants to produce �250,000 worth of cannabis.

Four rooms contained 580 cannabis plants in pots to be harvested.

Nguyen had earlier admitted cultivating the drugs at a house in Westminster Terrace, in the Anderston area, in November.

The court heard how the only room not used for drug growing was the kitchen, where Nguyen slept on a mattress.

You have chosen to involve yourself in the organised criminal activity of cannabis cultivation on a commercial scale within the United Kingdom Lord Hodge

He told police a man had asked him to stay at the house to grow plants for medicine.

The house was being rented out for �2,000, with a �10,000 investment in growing the cannabis.

Defence solicitor advocate Des Finnieston said Nguyen had arrived in Glasgow and had gone to restaurants frequented by South-east Asian nationals seeking work and a place to stay.

He was offered accommodation and was asked to look after the place.

Mr Finnieston said: "He states he received no financial gain from this undertaking, but he was being fed.

"It can be said for the accused that he was a very small cog in this operation."

Slovak passport

However, Lord Hodge told Nguyen: "Cannabis was cultivated on a very large scale in a sophisticated process which took the plant to its harvest in a cycle of about 10 or 12 weeks.

"You had a significant involvement in the production of an illegal drug and that drug causes considerable harm to those who depend on it.

"You have given no satisfactory explanation of the circumstances which brought you to Glasgow."

He told Nguyen he would have jailed him for six years for producing the Class C drug if he had not pled guilty to the crime.

Lord Hodge added: "I have had particular regard to the nature of your offending and to the harm which the cultivation and marketing of cannabis can do to users of that illegal drug.

"You have chosen to involve yourself in the organised criminal activity of cannabis cultivation on a commercial scale within the United Kingdom."

Lord Hodge said he considered it likely that Nguyen, who holds a Slovak passport, would continue to offend if allowed to remain in the country and would make a recommendation for his deportation, although the final decision would lie with the home secretary.