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 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.’
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.
Eleven members of an organised crime group headed by Paul Green have been given sentences totalling more than 200 years following the country’s longest-running criminal trial ever. Read More
