Britain’s greatest ever medication ring are jailed for 200 years: Gang smuggled £7BILLION of cocaine, heroin and hashish into UK… and tried to throw police off the scent by hiding the haul in crates of strong-smelling onions
A ruthless gang who hid heroin, cocaine and cannabis worth billions in cargoes of strong-smelling onion and garlic have been exposed as the UK’s biggest ever drug-smuggling ring.
Eleven members of an organised crime group headed by 59-year-old Paul Green – nicknamed The Big Fella – were given sentences totalling more than 200 years following the country’s longest-running criminal trial ever.
Using legitimate cargoes of vegetables imported from the Netherlands as cover, the gang is believed to have smuggled an ‘unprecedented’ £7 billion worth of drugs.
A judge told the conspirators their crimes had caused ‘incalculable’ harm, fuelling ‘addiction, misery, social degradation and, in some cases, death’.
Their convictions can now be reported after three more members of the gang were yesterday convicted following a second trial. The group bought so many onions that it couldn’t get rid of them, with council officers investigating complaints about piles of smelly rotten vegetables.
Eventually they began sending the pungent produce back to the continent to act as cover for another load.
‘The stench of criminality is overpowering,’ prosecuting KC Andrew Thomas told the jury as he opened the case. Six seizures of drugs with a total street value of £40 million were made between 2015 and 2018.
But investigators from the National Crime Agency (NCA) proved there had been at least 240 importations.
Ringleader Paul Green – who was jailed for 32 years – being led out by police officers
Eleven members of an organised crime group headed by 59-year-old Green (pictured) have been given sentences totalling more than 200 years
The NCA issued images of the major players in the drugs ring
The drugs were hidden inside cardboard boxes and concealed packages
To avoid detection, the gang concealed its drugs in consignments of strong-smelling foodstuffs such as onions, garlic and ginger (pictured)
Ringleader Green – who was jailed for 32 years – used sophisticated methods to evade detection, including cloned companies and identity theft, as well as brutal threats of violence. In just six months, he and his wife spent more than £26,000 on watches and jewellery.
Members used encrypted communications, faked documents, changed their names by deed poll and acquired defunct businesses to disguise their illicit trade.
Regional drug gangs paid for consignments to be hidden in pallets of fresh produce. These would then be unwittingly shipped to the UK by innocent transport firms before being unloaded at warehouses and then distributed.
In 2016 they hid more than 17lbs (8kgs) of cocaine worth nearly £1 million in boxes packed with ginger in a cargo bound for the UK. But the plot was foiled when the driver became suspicious and called police.
Just a month later, Green’s gang was trying to smuggle in 125lbs (57kg) of amphetamines, worth about £1.1 million – but Dutch officers had group members under surveillance.
Russell Leonard, a foot soldier who spoke fluent Dutch, and an accomplice who cannot be named for legal reasons went out drinking all night and left it unguarded in a van. In a recorded conversation, Green warned: ‘If the van’s gone or been grabbed by the police then there’ll be f****** murders.’
The crime group bought so many onions – between 40 tonnes and 50 tonnes a week – that it couldn’t get rid of them, with environmental health officers investigating complaints about piles of smelly rotten vegetables (pictured)
The group hid its drugs in consignments of foodstuffs such as onions (pictured)
The gang hid the drugs in four cardboard boxes and packaging
The drugs were hidden inside cardboard boxes and concealed packages
The offenders are thought to have smuggled several billion pounds worth of heroin, cocaine and cannabis to the country
The drugs were concealed inside cardboard boxes and plastic packages
Drugs hidden inside packages of onions are seen inside a large lorry
At Manchester Crown Court today, reporting restrictions were lifted upon verdicts in the second trial
A lorry containing stacks of packages is seen in footage
They rented a warehouse in the Netherlands, and hid the cocaine in cardboard boxes packed with ginger for deliveries to be made to warehouses they had rented in Bolton, Wigan and Ormskirk
Sara Drysdale, Specialist Prosecutor from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘This case is believed to involve the largest ever drug smuggling operation ever detected in the UK’
Ringleader Paul Green being led out by police officers
Investigators from the National Crime Agency – dubbed Britain’s FBI – proved there were at least 240 importations as they went to great lengths to confuse the authorities and avoid justice
When the duo finally returned and drove off they were immediately stopped by Dutch police.
Then in 2018 the vast scale of the gang’s offending became clearer, with seizures of 990lbs (450kg) of cocaine and heroin and two tons of cannabis.
Yesterday Rob Jones, the NCA’s director general of operations, said: ‘Without criminals like these, there would be no young teenagers dealing drugs through County Lines. There would be no turf war murders or innocent members of the public killed in the crossfire.
‘Paul Green and his accomplices enabled and helped deliver this kind of suffering and misery in communities across the country.’ One trial lasted 23 months, a record in England and Wales – the other lasted nine months.
Out of 18 members of the gang to be convicted, 11 were handed jail sentences totalling 202 years, with a further six due to be sentenced this month.
One additional defendant Leslie Kewin died prior to sentencing.
Green was convicted of conspiracy to import drugs and fraud by false representation. ‘Right-hand man’ Steven Martin, 53, of Bolton was imprisoned for 28 years.
Muhammad Ovais, 46, of Burnage, Manchester, who was in charge of distributing drugs, was sentenced to 27 years in jail.
Among the others sentenced for drugs importation conspiracy charges were Leonard, 48, of Kirkby, Liverpool, and
Dutch bosses Johannes Vesters, 54, and Barbara Rijnbout, 53, both of Utrecht.
