A gang that smuggled up to £7 billion worth of drugs in what is believed to be the largest criminal enterprise of its kind ever detected in the UK has been jailed.
Ringleader Paul Green, 59, known as The Big Fella, was the point of contact for numerous organised criminal groups (OCGs) who paid a fee to ship heroin, cocaine, cannabis, and amphetamines into the UK.
Green and his co-conspirators went to “extraordinary lengths” to disguise their involvement as they set up a series of front companies and warehouses in the Netherlands and the north of England by the use of false and stolen identities, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Drugs would be hidden within pallets of fresh food at the Dutch end of the enterprise and then shipped into the UK by haulage firms, who were unaware of the contraband, before the criminals would remove the drugs for distribution to their fee-paying customers as part of the “transport service” provided.
Enforcer Shot Dead
Among the OCG customers was Merseyside mob enforcer John Kinsella, 53, who was shot dead by a hitman in May 2018 as he walked his dogs with his pregnant partner.Prosecutor Andrew Thomas, KC said a feature of the sequence of conspiracies between March 2016 and September 2018 was the gang’s determination to continue the importations even after there had been arrests of some of those involved and seizures of some of the drugs.
He told jurors, “As soon as one company became exposed, they would switch to another one.”
Encrochat Phone Used
Among the many items of evidence gathered were messages on Green’s encrypted Encrochat phone, with his handler name of “Duckfarmer,” to his accomplices.Green had no previous convictions but had changed his name twice by deed poll from Simon Swift to James Russell and then to Green owing to financial difficulties and his self-confessed involvement in property and business fraud.
As well as his OCG customers, Green also brought in drugs for his own gang to distribute for sale.
Richard Harrison, NCA regional head of investigations, said: “This was an extremely high-harm OCG that used every tactic possible to evade detection and cheat justice.
‘Incalculable’ Harm
Judge Paul Lawton told gang members during their sentencing: “Your main purpose was the importation of controlled drugs on an international, and hitherto unprecedented, scale with a value of at least £2 billion and potentially as high as £7 billion.“The harm caused beyond the importation is incalculable.
“What you were actually distributing was addiction, misery, social degradation, and death.”
The defendants were separated into two trials with reporting restrictions lifted following the conclusion of the second trial that lasted nine months.
The first trial involving Green lasted 23 months as jurors took 141 hours to reach their verdicts.
Green, from Widnes, Cheshire, was jailed for 32 years after he was convicted of conspiracy to import drugs and fraud by false representation.
His “right-hand man,” Steven Martin, 53, of Chorley Old Road, Bolton, Greater Manchester, who organised the finances, was sentenced to 28 years.
Muhammad Ovais, 46, of Bournelea Avenue, Burnage, Manchester, who was in charge of distributing drugs to OCG customers, was jailed for 27 years.
Among those jailed for drugs importation conspiracy charges was fluent Dutch speaker Russell Leonard, 48, of Grosmont Road, Kirkby, Liverpool, who was jailed for 24 years.
From the Dutch side of the operation, OCG bosses Johannes Vesters, 54, and Barbara Rijnbout, 53, both of Utrecht, received prison terms of 20 years and 18 years.
