Gang members jailed over roles in biggest drug smuggling plot ever uncovered by UK police

More members of an international organised crime gang which smuggled billions of pounds worth of drugs into the country as part of the biggest plot ever uncovered by UK police have faced justice.

The OCG, led by kingpin Paul Green, dubbed ‘the big fella’, imported cocaine, heroin and cannabis worth up to £7 billion hidden in fruit and vegetables in vans driven from mainland Europe. The shipments were made using 'bogus' companies, and innocent haulage companies would unwittingly transport the narcotics.

Once arriving in the UK, the drugs were sold on to organised criminals up and down the country. The gang became 'experts' in importing drugs, and even formed an alliance with a Dutch gang in order to work together.

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Green and his lieutenants were sentenced in May last year. He received a 32 year sentence.

It followed a trial at Manchester Crown Court which lasted almost two years, which is thought to be one of the longest criminal trials in British legal history. The Green gang’s convictions and sentencing could only be revealed for the first time earlier this month, after reporting restrictions were imposed to protect the integrity of a linked trial.

Those restrictions were lifted after the trial of Sohail Qureshi, 64, Khaleed Vazeer, 58, and Ghazanfar Mahmood, 53, had concluded on December 2. That trial lasted nine months.

Today (Fri), the trio returned to the same court to learn their fate. The National Crime Agency said that the trio were involved in developing a new smuggling route into the UK.

They worked alongside Barbara Rijnbout and Johannes Vesters, the leading figures of the Dutch gang. Qureshi, of Wood Crescent, White City, London, but originally from Glasgow, was convicted of plotting to import heroin, cocaine and cannabis.

Qureshi also worked alongside Vazeer and Mahmood. Vazeer, of Westwood Avenue, Timperley, who was convicted of the same charges as Qureshi, helped set up a front company and bank accounts using forged documents.

Judge Paul Lawton described Qureshi and Vazeer, who met in prison, as ‘career criminals’. Mahmood, a former taxi driver from Bolton, was convicted of being involved in an organised crime group. He received orders from Qureshi and travelled to Spain and the Netherlands to develop the operation.

Qureshi was jailed for 25 years. Vazeer received a 20 year sentence, while Mahmood was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison.

The defendants to be sentenced in May were:

Green, 59, of Widnes, Cheshire was sentenced to 32 years in prison after being found guilty of three counts of conspiring to import class A drugs, and four counts of conspiring to import class B drugs.

Oliver Penter, 41, of Gladstone Street, Stockport, was sentenced to 24 years in prison after he was found guilty of one count of conspiring to import class A drugs and one count of conspiring to import class B drugs.

Steven Martin, 52, of Chorley Old Road, Bolton, and Mohammed Ovais, 46, of Bournlea Avenue, Burnage, were both found guilty of two counts of conspiring to import class A drugs and two counts of conspiring to import class B drugs.

Martin was jailed for 28 years, and Ovais for 27 years.

Iftikhar Hussain, 50, of Upland Grove, Leeds, was found guilty of assisting the activities of an organised crime group. He was jailed for four years.

Russell Leonard, 47, of Grosmont Road, Kirkby, Merseyside, was found guilty of two counts of conspiring to import class A drugs and one count of conspiring to import class B drugs. He was sentenced to 24 years.

Alan Cumming, 54, of Litherland Road, Bootle, Merseyside, was found guilty of one count of conspiring to import class A drugs, and one count of conspiring to import class B drugs. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison.

Barbara Rijnbout, 52, and Johannes Vesters, 54, both of Utrecht, in the Netherlands, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to import class A drugs and one count of conspiring to import class B drugs.

Rijnbout was sentenced to 18 years, and Vesters to 20 years.

After the hearing, Richard Harrison, regional head of investigations at the National Crime Agency, said: “These criminals supplied unprecedented amounts of drugs right across the UK. And along with that, an incalculable amount of damage to society with the violence, addiction, exploitation and misery that are inseparable from supplying drugs.

“Offenders like these only care about the money to be made. They don’t care that they fuel horrendous problems such as children being sucked into dealing drugs through County Lines or innocent members of the public being hurt or even killed in the crossfire of turf wars.

“I commend my officers for the years of dedicated and tenacious work that went into bringing this OCG to justice.”