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Jail for two men guilty of “biggest operation” to import Class B drugs (16 March 2015)

Date: 16/03/2015
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Jail for two men guilty of “biggest operation” to import Class B drugs

Luton Crown Court has jailed two men for what is thought to have been the biggest ever operation to import cannabis into the UK.

Kentonline reports that 32-year-old Steven McDonald from Chatham in Kent and 66-year-old John Wright from Hounslow in Middlesex were arrested on April 24, 2014, after Border Force officers at the Port of Harwich in Essex intercepted a consignment of around 300 kilos of herbal cannabis shipped from the Netherlands and disguised as floor tiles.

The court heard that the day after the load arrived in the UK, officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) – through the joint Organised Crime Partnership team – watched the consignment being delivered to an address in Whetstone, north London.

They witnessed McDonald signing for the delivery. He then loaded the consignment onto a van, which he drove to a row of garages in Wembley.

Wright was seen following behind the consignment as it was delivered to the address in Wembley.

The pair were arrested after they began to open up the bags containing the Class B drug. Officers also found another 150 kilos of cannabis in a garage in the same block, the court heard.

Searches were made of McDonald’s and Wright’s home addresses, which led to the recovery of drug dealing ledgers – as well as evidence of bank transfers and trips to the Netherlands by McDonald and Wright.

Wright had travelled to the Netherlands at least 20 times a year since 2008 – and had access to a rented apartment in the Dutch town of Lisse.

Working with Dutch police, officers from the NCA and MPS then investigated the companies used by McDonald and Wright as cover for drug smuggling.

They uncovered evidence of around one hundred other importations from three different Dutch addresses to the same two companies operated by McDonald and Wright.

Officers also discovered that one shipment was stolen at gunpoint by a rival criminal gang – which led investigators to discover both the Dutch and UK ends of the network had had to change the names of companies and locations used as a front for drug deals.

On 16 October 2014, McDonald and Wright pleaded guilty to conspiring to import class B drugs.

On Friday (13/03/15) at Luton Crown Court, McDonald was sentenced to eight years in jail – and Wright was jailed for nine years and four months in prison.

Both men will also be barred from travelling outside the UK for ten years after their release from jail.

After the hearing, Detective Inspector Steve Miles from the Organised Crime Partnership, 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.
“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.”

Officers are currently hunting for a third man believed to be involved in the operation.

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