FOUR men have been jailed for their part in setting up lucrative cannabis factories in rented homes in Kent.

Five of eight properties involved were on Sheppey, while the others were in Strood, Canterbury and Charing.

Maidstone Crown Court heard on Monday heard that a conservative estimate of the yield from the drug was around 60 kilos and the profit was about £250,000.

One of the leaders, Hung Manh Do, 22, was jailed for four-and-a-half years. Tuan Dao, 26, was sentenced to three years and Hung Van Nguyen, 21, and Duc Quang Vu, 41, were each sentenced to two-and-a-half years.

Do, of Ilford, Essex, Vu, Nguyen and Dao, all from London, admitted conspiracy to produce cannabis between October 2005 and October last year.

The factories were discovered at 10 Alma Road, 28 Coronation Road, 36 Newcomen Road, 87 Invicta Road, all Sheerness, 52 North Road, Queenborough, 147 Gordon Road, Strood, Shortlands, Charing, and Woodley, Stodmarsh Road, Canterbury.

Robin Johnson, prosecuting, said police became aware of the houses being rented and turned into sophisticated cannabis factories.

The Vietnamese men arrested all helped in some way in the production of the crop. Others fled and escaped arrest.

"This was a substantial operation," said Mr Johnson. "It requires a considerable amount of organisation."