AN illegal immigrant paid $20,000 to human traffickers on the promise he would be given employment in the UK, only to be left to run a 245 cannabis plant facility.

Vietnamese national Dong Hoang, 41, handed his family savings to people smugglers and left his wife and two children behind, a court heard.

Hoang was told he would be given a job but instead had to look after the cannabis facility at a Blackwood house in isolation, his barrister Andrew Jones said.

Today, Newport Judge RA Britton sentenced him to nine months in prison after he pleaded guilty to producing cannabis.

Hoang is to be deported back to his country after serving half his sentence in custody, Newport Crown Court heard.

He thinks it's time to start locking up the real criminals.

WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders isn't terribly impressed with a new Department of Justice pledge to get serious about white-collar crime.

After years of shrugging off criminal prosecutions for Wall Street activity that fueled the 2008 financial crisis, the Department of Justice said Thursday that it will more aggressively target white-collar crime going forward. In a memo, the DOJ said it would now seek to hold both corporations and individual employees accountable for misdeeds.

 It's about time, according to Sanders.

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CLEVELAND -Citing reasons both political and personal, former Cleveland City Council President George Forbes endorsed Issue 3 on Friday-- the measure that would legalize recreational and medical marijuana, if voters approve it in November.

Forbes' political motivation stems from his belief that marijuana laws are unfairly applied against minorities.

"In the city of Cleveland," Forbes said, "out of every 10 people who are arrested for marijuana, eight of them are black."

His personal reason is his decades-long battle with osteoporosis-- a painful bone disease.

"I hurt so bad that sometimes I wake up at night and I cry," he said.

RIO GRANDE VALLEY – U.S. Border Patrol agents confiscated nearly 2,000 pounds of marijuana in three seizures early Friday morning, a more than $1.5 million worth of marijuana bust.

Early Friday, agents assigned to the Brownsville Station were advised of possible illegal activity on the eastside of Brownsville, CBP says. As the agents reached the area, they saw a white SUV driving north from the Rio Grande.

Border Patrol agents say the alleged marijuana driver noticed the agents and decided to make a U-turn, headed back to the river. The vehicle was then submerged in water. CBP says the driver swam back to Mexico, abandoning more than 1,100 pounds of marijuana.

Some of the miles of tubing removed... courtesy Nevada DPS

Trash from the kitchen area... courtesy Nevada DPS

CH47 taking out part of the hundreds of pounds of trash left at the grow site... courtesy Nevada DPS

LINCOLN COUNTY, NV - Several agencies have teamed to eradicate more than 6,000 marijuana plants in southeast Nevada.

Marshfield police seized more than $88,000 worth of marijuana being transported from Colorado in this 2013 file photo. State law still says that anyone caught with marijuana can be charged with a crime that could include significant fines, jail time and a permanent criminal record.(Photo: Gannett Central Wisconsin Media file photo)Buy Photo

Marijuana use comes with many potential side effects: reduced coordination, impaired driving, impairment to short-term memory, depression and other mental health issues, mood swings and the list goes on.

But, says Sheila Weix, a certified addiction nurse who has worked with those with substance abuse disorders for four decades, those are the same side effects experienced by those who abuse alcohol.

VANCOUVER -- Health Canada has threatened pot dispensaries with police raids, but at least one organization wants more information on what it has done wrong.

The health agency confirmed it has sent letters to 13 compassion clubs and dispensaries warning of possible RCMP raids if they don't stop selling or advertising marijuana and comply with several demands.

The B.C. Compassion Club Society provides legally approved medical marijuana to more than 9,000 members and spokeswoman Jamie Shaw said it doesn't advertise cannabis or cannabis products.

"It's confusing for us right now. We're trying to figure out what the problem is," she said.

John Conroy, the society's lawyer, has fired off a terse letter to Health Canada.

Vancouver police say they are not planning any raids on local pot dispensaries after Health Canada reportedly sent out letters warning operators they have two weeks to shut down or face an RCMP crackdown.

"Our position on the marijuana stores has not changed," said a statement issued by Const. Brian Montague on Friday morning.

"We have a great relationship with the RCMP and work together often to tackle regional issues," he said.

"The RCMP have the authority to enforce the Criminal Code anywhere in Canada, but I doubt they have the desire to spend time, money, and reallocate resources to a city policed by the VPD."

It isn’t April 20, but Colorado is staging its own version of pot day. It sounds odd, but the state claims tax law is forcing it to suspend taxes on recreational marijuana for one day, September 16, 2015. The bizarre tax holiday is due to what Gov. Hickenlooper called a fiscal glitch in the state constitution. Value buyers may note that the holiday should shave about $20 off the price of a mid-grade ounce of marijuana. There could be huge crowds and hoarders.

Spurred by a general legalization initiative, the bills would explicitly allow commercial cultivation and distribution for the first time.