Police in Brisbane are uncovering 10 new drug farm properties a month, many of them run by Vietnamese crime gangs.

Brisbane police told Seven News that gangs were nursing sophisticated marijuana plantations inside suburban homes – the profits of which were used to import hard drugs such are heroin or ice.

Police say the criminals rent properties from unsuspecting landlords in the Vietnamese community and often pay above-average rent.

A property in the Brisbane suburb of Heathwood was the latest to be busted, revealing 170 plants worth $850,000 dollars.