Crime gang jailed after smuggling £2m of cannabis stashed in shipment of broccoli and kale

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A "highly organised" crime gang with ties throughout Europe were caught shipping £2million of cannabis stashed in pallets of broccoli, kale and lettuce.

The crooks set up a business under false names, hired warehouse units in Malaga and the UK and even went to the effort of printing t-shirts with the logo of the fake company - LB Wholesale.

The group also organised a "dummy run", sending an innocent shipment of broccoli, aubergine and lettuce around a month before they tried to import drugs into Seaforth docks, reports the Liverpool Echo.Liverpool Crown Court heard that David Hunter, 51, led the conspiracy alongside trusted associates, 48-year-old Stephen Quigley and Gary McEvatt, 38.The trio described as "professionals" by a top judge, all have previous convictions for high-level drug trafficking.Also involved were Gary Sarson, 61, who played a "significant role", and John Ianson, 58, and Andrew Unsworth, 41, both described as low-level minions who were paid to do the "heavy lifting".The six men appeared for sentence on Wednesday July 19, over five years after the shipment was intercepted.Louise McCloskey, prosecuting, told the court: "This was a highly planned, well resourced and sophisticated criminal operation.

Those involved created a legitimate cover company, utilised commercial storage premises, employed the services of bona fide transport and shipping companies and went as far as to have printed T-shirts displaying the logo of the false company LB Wholesale to create an air of legitimacy."The scale and method of the importation demonstrates how well resourced and well established the defendants are within Europe.