Drug gang made so much money it rotted in safes

A gang that became Britain’s biggest importers of high grade skunk cannabis made so much money that they left tens of thousands of pounds to rot in hidden safes. The three "directors" of the organised gang made "grotesque profits" of up to £200 million, so much that they were unable to spend it fast enough. In an undercover surveillance operation involving police in Britain, France, Holland and Switzerland the gang were seen driving to Europe with £500,000 stuffed into sports bags.

Another £11 million was handed to a crooked employee at a currency exchange in East London and officers believe this was wired into accounts in Pakistan and Dubai. When Calais customs officers intercepted members of the gang heading to Spain they found hundreds of thousands of pounds stuffed behind the dashboard of their car.



Senior members of the gang were also seen meeting private bankers in Geneva to discuss hiding their money. Much of it was sent abroad and high-priced villas were bought all over the world. The gang also spent hundreds of thousands of pounds buying land and funding a development of 12 luxury villas in Lanzarote. Detectives say they now plan to seize the gang’s profit.

Detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Intelligence Section first became aware of the gang in June 2006 and over the next two years noted that they imported £70 million of skunk — up to 250kg (551lb) every week. Terrence Bowler, 40, headed up the operation along with Mark Kinnimont, 40, and Peter Moran, 37, who all pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to conspiracy to import controlled drugs and conspiracy to launder the proceeds of crime.

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