The UK’s largest-ever drugs smuggling operation, orchestrated by an international organised crime group (OCG), has been exposed following a groundbreaking National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation. Eighteen members of the OCG, led by Paul Green, 59, have been convicted for their roles in smuggling billions of pounds worth of drugs into the UK. Reporting restrictions were lifted today at Manchester Crown Court, revealing the monumental scale of the operation.
The group is believed to have imported over 50 tonnes of heroin, cocaine, and cannabis, feeding crime gangs from the southeast of England to Scotland. Two trials were required to bring the offenders to justice, with the first trial lasting a record 23 months.
Green, described as the mastermind behind the operation, has been sentenced to 32 years in prison. The group went to extraordinary lengths to evade detection, creating front companies, cloning legitimate businesses, and using food shipments to mask the drugs. The OCG’s illicit activity included concealing drugs in onions, garlic, and ginger consignments, purchasing up to 50 tonnes of onions weekly as a cover.
Between 2015 and 2018, six major drug seizures with a street value of £40 million were made. However, investigators proved there were at least 240 importations, valued at up to £7 billion. In one case, the group smuggled 450kg of cocaine and heroin, as well as two tonnes of cannabis, through ports in Lincolnshire and the Netherlands.
Judge Paul Lawton described the operation as “unprecedented in scale,” highlighting the devastating impact on communities across the UK. He stated, “What you were actually distributing was addiction, misery, social degradation, and, in some cases, death.”
The NCA praised the international cooperation with Dutch authorities, whose efforts were instrumental in dismantling the OCG. Rob Jones, NCA Director General of Operations, said, “Paul Green and his accomplices were the crucial link in moving drugs from source countries abroad to UK towns and cities where lives were wrecked by them.”
The investigation revealed the group’s unethical tactics, including identity theft to secure fraudulent mortgages and cloning businesses to appear legitimate. Green and his partner spent millions while declaring minimal earnings on tax returns, further illustrating the scale of their deception.
This case marks a significant victory in the fight against organised crime, with authorities vowing to recover assets gained through the group’s criminal activities. The operation stands as a testament to the NCA’s commitment to dismantling networks fueling addiction and crime across the UK.