Fresh flowers drugs gang jailed

It follows a major joint operation by West Yorkshire Police and West Mercia Police into an Anglo-Dutch organised crime group that was importing cannabis from The Netherlands to West Yorkshire and the West Midlands.

A total of eight Dutch Nationals appeared before Leeds Crown Court with three of the men hearing how they will spend a total of 26 years behind bars for their roles in a conspiracy to import and supply Skunk Cannabis to other criminal gangs within the UK.

Using a legitimate business front, Flowexpo B.V. (Ltd) in Holland, the trio were involved in buying boxes of fresh flowers at auction and hid the drugs inside before using legitimate haulage companies to transport the boxes from Holland to England. Each shipment was destined for Leeds, Bradford, Redditch or Birmingham.

Johannes Elmendorp (51) of Vandans, Austria was the organiser of the operation in the UK and the sole director of Fresh Flower Concept Ltd – a UK registered company for whom consignments were destined for, to be distributed to sites in Leeds, Bradford and Birmingham. He was sentenced to 18 years and a Serious Crime Prevention Order was also granted. This prevents him from accessing, importing or exporting to the UK.

Terence Koetsier (22) of Rotterdam, Netherlands, was responsible for taking delivery of most of the shipments in West Yorkshire and supplying them to Organised Crime Groups from Leeds, Birmingham and London. He was sentenced to 2 years .

Arie Menno van Esch (30) of Wijk en Aalburg, Netherlands organised the delivery of the flower boxes containing Cannabis and controlled the onward distribution to UK based Organised Crime Groups. He was sentenced to 6 years.

Jacob Schreuders (38) of Veen, Netherlands, Edilson Dos Santos (24) of Rotterdam, Jonathan Elmendorp (29) of Leeuwarden, Theodorus Klaasen (60) of Kingstanding, Birmingham, Sajid Mahmood (34) of Saltley, Birmingham were all found not guilty by the jury.

The investigation spanned Western and Eastern Europe, from the UK to Ireland, Holland, France, Germany, Italy and the Ukraine and involved West Yorkshire Police working closely with West Mercia Police and both the Dutch and German Authorities and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SCOA) to snare the gang.

West Yorkshire Police launched an investigation on 3rd October 2008 and, using covert tactics and intelligence gathering and officers from the Force’s Organised Crime Group, established that between June and October 2008 this criminal gang accomplished 52 deliveries from Holland to West Yorkshire with an estimated street value of £73.5 million.

The Dutch Authorities also intercepted three further consignments of Skunk Cannabis weighing a total of 495 kilograms in October 2008 destined for West Yorkshire. The drugs held an estimated street value of £4.2 million.

Storage units were used at Pepper Road, Hunslet in Leeds, Oak Mills in Morley, Albion Park in Stanningley and on The Iron Works, Bowling Back Lane in Bradford.

In September 2009 HM Customs seized a shipment of flowers containing Cannabis at Purfleet Docks on the Thames Estuary with an estimated street value of £1.4 million.

The flowers had been exported by Joseph Flowers in Holland and were due to be delivered to the Fresh Flower Concept Ltd in Redditch.

West Mercia Police’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit began an investigation and the flowers were allowed to be delivered, however the drugs were removed. Once they reached the Redditch site the flower boxes were then transported immediately to a second storage facility in Birmingham and Klaasen and Mahmood were arrested.