A smuggler who helped ship cannabis into the UK in flower boxes from Holland has been jailed after an international crime squad cracked the country’s 'biggest ever' conspiracy to import the drug.
Edwin Van Winsen was sentenced to four years in prison for his part in the operation, which used a flower import company as a cover to get an estimated £150m pounds worth of the drug from the Netherlands to the UK.
Between June and October 2008, the Dutch national helped ship over £73m pounds worth of the drug into the country.
When travelling between the UK and the Netherlands the 'flashy' smuggler would travel in an Audi A6, and was surrounded by women as he drank champagne on the ferry. Winsen, 33, is the final man from the syndicate to be jailed after trials for other ‘executives’ from the sophisticated scheme were held last year.
The international investigation spanned Western and Eastern Europe, from the UK, Ireland, Holland, France, Germany, Italy and the Ukraine and saw the Force working closely with West Mercia Police, the Dutch and German authorities and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).
Prosecutor Andrew Kershaw today told Leeds Crown Court: 'Mr Van Winsen was concerned with organising and taking 52 deliveries.'It is estimated he was involved in the total import of around 8,580kg of the drug which has an estimated street value of £73.5m pounds. 'The drugs were hidden in flower boxes and were delivered to auction houses across West Yorkshire where they were transported to various storage premises.'They were then picked up by drivers from across the country in rented vans often within minutes of being dropped off.'
The court heard Van Winsen was given an Audi A6 to drive while he worked on the scheme and was also said to be extravagant with his cash.Ringleader Johannes Elmendorp, 51, was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment in August last year.The Dutch national was the sole director of Fresh Flower Concept Ltd, a UK registered company which distributed the consignments to Leeds, Bradford and Birmingham.
He, along with Van Winsen, organised the delivery of the airtight bags of cannabis hidden in boxes of fresh flowers which bona fide transport companies delivered to addresses in the UK from four addresses in West Yorkshire.
Operations were then switched to the West Midlands when Dutch police seized three loads intended for the UK.
During investigations conducted by West Yorkshire Police, West Mercia Police and the Dutch authorities, it was established that a total of 102 deliveries were made to the UK with an estimated total weight of 16.8 tonnes, which police estimate equates to almost £150m pounds in street value
West Yorkshire Police had begun surveillance at Oak Mill in Morley, Leeds, after being alerted about suspicious activities in October 2008 after Van Winsen had organised to have the drugs delivered there.
Mitigating for Van Winsen, Damien Nolan said: 'He was asked to be involved in this scheme on no less than three occasions but he refused. 'He had been having financial problems with a company of which he was the director and it was this which made him take up the offer to become involved by one of the ringleaders.'He was eventually caught by police but had already left the operation as he knew it was the wrong thing to be involved with.'
Judge Sally Cahill sentenced Van Winsen, of Sassenheim, Netherlands, to four years minus the 340 days he has already spent on remand. Terence Koetsier, 22, of Rotterdam, Netherlands, who was arrested in Gran Canaria in January last year, was jailed for two years after a jury found him guilty of conspiracy to import and supply cannabis last August.
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