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Registered: 11/02/14 Posts: 1,109 Last seen: 5 years, 11 months
Smugglers jailed for importing 28 tonnes of cannabis - enough to get every person in Britain stoned #772827 - 03/19/15 11:33 AM (9 years, 8 months ago)
-Steven McDonald and John Wright were part of 'industrial' crime network -Imported cannabis from Netherlands as part of seven-year conspiracy -Were caught when officers intercepted £1million drugs haul at Essex port -The pair admitted to drugs charges and were handed prison sentences
Two men have been jailed for smuggling 28 tonnes of cannabis into the UK - enough to get every person in the country stoned. Steven McDonald, 32, and John Wright, 66, were part of a crime network that trafficked drugs from the Netherlands on an 'industrial scale'. The cannabis they imported as part of the seven-year conspiracy would have had a street value in excess of £80million.
The pair were caught when Border Force officers at Harwich International Port, Essex, intercepted a 300kg haul of cannabis - worth roughly £1million - that had been hidden in boxes of ceramic tiles. They replaced the drugs, which had been packed in concealed compartments, with a dummy load. An undercover police officer then drove the lorry to an address in Whetstone, London. There, McDonald loaded the drugs into a waiting van as Wright kept watch, the court was told.
McDonald, from Chatham, Kent, and Wright, from Hounslow, north London, were arrested after they were seen unloading the delivery at an address in Wembley, London. Raids on their homes led police to recover drug-dealing ledgers and evidence of at least 20 trips to the Netherlands by the pair. The two men admitted conspiring to import class B drugs at a hearing at Luton Crown Court last October. Wright was sentenced on Friday to nine years and four months and McDonald was handed an eight-year sentence.
Both will also be banned from travelling outside the UK for ten years after their release. Detective Inspector Steve Miles said: 'These men were involved in drug smuggling on a truly industrial scale over a number of years. 'The potential street value of the cannabis imported as part of this conspiracy would have been in excess of £80 million. 'Using their contacts with criminal networks in the Netherlands they were able to set up elaborate fronts to cover their activities. 'But through our close work with the Dutch authorities and Border Force we were able to unpick that, and disrupt and then dismantle a very significant organised crime group responsible for bringing thousands of kilos of illegal drugs into the UK.'
Re: Smugglers jailed for importing 28 tonnes of cannabis - enough to get every person in Britain stoned [Re: SleepAid] #772871 - 03/19/15 05:43 PM (9 years, 8 months ago)
Registered: 11/02/14 Posts: 1,109 Last seen: 5 years, 11 months
Re: Smugglers jailed for importing 28 tonnes of cannabis - enough to get every person in Britain stoned [Re: P-O] #772875 - 03/19/15 06:07 PM (9 years, 8 months ago)
Re: Smugglers jailed for importing 28 tonnes of cannabis - enough to get every person in Britain stoned [Re: SleepAid] 2 #772881 - 03/19/15 06:22 PM (9 years, 8 months ago)
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