A network responsible for smuggling drugs worth up to £7bn into the UK from Europe over two and a half years has been dismantled, with key figures receiving substantial prison sentences, as reported by Manchester Crown Court. The operation, which is the largest of its kind to be identified in the UK, involved concealing heroin, cocaine, and cannabis within shipments of onions, garlic, and ginger to mask their scent.
The orchestrator of the scheme, Paul Green, 59, from Widnes, Cheshire, dubbed 'The Big Fella', has been sentenced to 32 years in prison on charges of conspiracy to import drugs and fraud by false representation. Green's primary accomplice, Steven Martin, 53, from Bolton, was tasked with managing the operation's finances and has been sentenced to 28 years in custody.
The court was informed that Green served as a liaison for various organized crime groups, arranging for the importation of drugs into the UK using front companies and storage facilities located in the Netherlands and northern England. Despite changes in company usage following police interventions, the operation managed to execute up to four shipments per week from March 2016 to September 2018.
Judge Paul Lawton, in his sentencing remarks, highlighted the operation's "unprecedented scale," with the gang's activities involving the importation of controlled substances worth between £2bn and £7bn. Additional sentences were handed down to other members involved in the conspiracy, including Russell Leonard, Johannes Vesters, and Barbara Rijnbout, for their roles in facilitating the drug imports.
Source: BBC