A MOTHER-of-three and nail salon owner who is alleged to be the director of a Newcastle drug syndicate has declared she had no idea several properties she owned or rented were being used as sophisticated cannabis growhouses.
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But police allege Nga White, 44, of Hunter Street, Newcastle, was the leader of a group comprising of predominantly Vietnamese men who laundered money and cultivated large quantities of cannabis while living in Australia illegally.
The months-long investigation reached a peak on Tuesday when police raided a warehouse on Steel Street, in the Newcastle CBD, allegedly unearthing more than 300 cannabis plants and dismantling a complex hydroponic set-up.
Ms White was arrested the next day at the Glamour Nails and Beauty salon at Westfield Kotara.
According to a statement of police facts tendered to Newcastle Local Court, Ms White referred to the members of her syndicate as her “army” or her “crew”.
The facts state Ms White was heard by police on Tuesday in a telephone intercept as allegedly saying the “army has been bitten by dogs”.
That call came the morning after police arrested three Vietnamese men – Anh Hoang and Hoai Nam Nguyen, both 22, and Cuong Van Nguyen, 33 – who are all alleged to be part of the syndicate – during a vehicle stop on Glebe Road in Adamstown. The men were allegedly in possession of 18.8kg of cannabis.
About 2am the same morning police raided the Steel Street warehouse, which police allege was rented by Ms White. Detectives also identified several other properties in Newcastle owned or rented by the alleged syndicate.
Police allege all the identified properties “displayed signs of containing a growhouse” during the investigation.
During a lengthy bail hearing on Friday, Legal Aid solicitor Bill Hussey said Ms White would be entering a plea of not guilty to the charge of knowingly directing a criminal group.
Mr Hussey argued Ms White did not know properties that she owned and rented out were being used for cannabis cultivation.
He also said while Ms White rented the three-level Steel Street warehouse, she sub-let levels two and three and had no access to them, using only level one for the storage of chemicals for her nail salon business.
Ms White disputed the police translation of intercepted phone calls.
She denies saying “bitten by dogs”, and said her “army” or her “soldiers” referred only to her staff.
Police prosecutor Steve Ling opposed Ms White’s application for bail and argued she was a flight risk and posed an unacceptable risk to the community.
Mr Hussey argued Ms White was a mother of young children, had no criminal record and had strong community ties.
Magistrate Robert Stone granted strict bail with conditions including a $100,000 surety, that she was to wear a GPS ankle bracelet and not to go within one kilometre of an international departure point.
The matter was adjourned to December 13.
