A BUSINESSMAN who smuggled tens of millions of pounds of drugs through Felixstowe port is today starting a 26 year jail sentence.Police seized of eight tonnes of cannabis, with a street value of £28 million at the port.
A BUSINESSMAN who smuggled tens of millions of pounds of drugs through Felixstowe port is today starting a 26 year jail sentence.
Police seized of eight tonnes of cannabis, with a street value of £28 million at the port.
The consignment - discovered in September 2006 - was found concealed in a shipment of South African garden furniture.
The Metropolitan Police said the cannabis seizure was the largest the force has ever made.
In a second operation they seized 330lb of cocaine with a street value of £10.5 million in South Africa. That consignment had been hidden in mirrors destined for the UK.
Their trail led to Robert Daniel Flook, 46, Eltham, south east London, who investigating officers said was one of the key organisers behind an operation which had smuggled £350 of cocaine and cannabis into the UK, using “front companies” to transport drugs hidden in garden furniture and mirrors.
Flook was found guilty of conspiracy to supply the cocaine and cannabis at London's Blackfriars Crown Court.
Police believe the network started importing drugs in 2001, with similarly sized consignments to those seized in September/October 2006 were imported undetected until the seizures.
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