The gang set up a fake grocery business as a front for bringing in the drugs from the Costa del Sol
Four smugglers who imported £2 million of cannabis hidden in crates of ONIONS have been jailed.
The gang set up a fake grocery business next to the north west's busiest fruit and veg market as an elaborate front for the deal.
Paul Farrell was jailed for five-and-a-half years
Gary Wilkinson was jailed for six years
Stephen Potter was jailed for six years
Andrew Soloman was locked up for nine years
They set up a company called 'Walker and Sons' next door to the New Smithfield Market in Manchester in August 2011, the Manchester Evening News reports.
A sign was put up above a unit at Norbury Court, Openshaw, and a website set up claiming the company had been going since 1958.
They arranged for 375kg of cannabis to be smuggled to Manchester in 20 pallets of onions after travelling to Costa del Sol to clinch the deal.
A genuine shipment of groceries was organised in a dummy run.
But officers from the National Crime Agency had been secretly bugging their unit and caught the gang red handed minutes after the consignment arrived at the unit at 7am on October 16 last year.
At Manchester Crown Court Gary Wilkinson, 50, formerly of Astley, Wigan, and Paul Farrell, 34, formerly of Clinton Avenue, Fallowfield , were jailed after admitting conspiracy to import cannabis.
Wilkinson was jailed for six years, Farrell for five-and-a-half years.
At an earlier hearing Andrew Soloman, 46, formerly of New Beech Road, Heaton Mersey, Stockport, and Stephen Potter, 41, formerly of Paisley Avenue, St Helens, Merseyside, were both jailed after admitting conspiracy to import cannabis.
Soloman was locked up for nine years after also admitting being concerned in the supply of heroin. Potter was jailed for six years.
Each of the gang had lined up buyers for their share of the drugs and when they were caught they were packing the resin and skunk cannabis into boxes for wholesale distribution.
Steve Baldwin, head of Investigations for the NCA, said: “This was drug trafficking on an almost industrial scale.
“These men were key players in a criminal organisation that had the ability transport huge amounts of cannabis across international borders. They were motivated by the chance to make huge profits.”
The gang set up a fake grocery business next to the north west's busiest fruit and veg market as an elaborate front for the deal.
Paul Farrell was jailed for five-and-a-half years
Gary Wilkinson was jailed for six years
Stephen Potter was jailed for six years
Andrew Soloman was locked up for nine years
They set up a company called 'Walker and Sons' next door to the New Smithfield Market in Manchester in August 2011, the Manchester Evening News reports.
A sign was put up above a unit at Norbury Court, Openshaw, and a website set up claiming the company had been going since 1958.
They arranged for 375kg of cannabis to be smuggled to Manchester in 20 pallets of onions after travelling to Costa del Sol to clinch the deal.
A genuine shipment of groceries was organised in a dummy run.
But officers from the National Crime Agency had been secretly bugging their unit and caught the gang red handed minutes after the consignment arrived at the unit at 7am on October 16 last year.
At Manchester Crown Court Gary Wilkinson, 50, formerly of Astley, Wigan, and Paul Farrell, 34, formerly of Clinton Avenue, Fallowfield , were jailed after admitting conspiracy to import cannabis.
Wilkinson was jailed for six years, Farrell for five-and-a-half years.
At an earlier hearing Andrew Soloman, 46, formerly of New Beech Road, Heaton Mersey, Stockport, and Stephen Potter, 41, formerly of Paisley Avenue, St Helens, Merseyside, were both jailed after admitting conspiracy to import cannabis.
Soloman was locked up for nine years after also admitting being concerned in the supply of heroin. Potter was jailed for six years.
Each of the gang had lined up buyers for their share of the drugs and when they were caught they were packing the resin and skunk cannabis into boxes for wholesale distribution.
Steve Baldwin, head of Investigations for the NCA, said: “This was drug trafficking on an almost industrial scale.
“These men were key players in a criminal organisation that had the ability transport huge amounts of cannabis across international borders. They were motivated by the chance to make huge profits.”
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