Smugglers hid huge cannabis haul in flowers

The gang used four addresses in West Yorkshire to take deliveries before switching to the West Midlands after Dutch police disrupted operations by seizing three loads intended for Leeds or Bradford.

It was estimated a similar amount of cannabis worth millions more on the streets was then delivered to the Birmingham and Redditch areas.

Johannes Gerardes Elmendorp, 61, described as the man behind the importation and distribution for both operations, was yesterday unanimously found guilty by a jury at Leeds Crown Court on four charges of conspiracy to import and supply.

He was arrested in Budapest, Hungary, last year and extradited to face trial.

The jury heard during the 10-week case that the method of importation used in both conspiracies was identical, with airtight bags of cannabis hidden in boxes of flowers which bona fide transport companies delivered to addresses in the UK.

Police officers began a surveillance operation at Oak Mill, Morley, Leeds, in October 2008 after being alerted about suspicious activities and Elmendorp and a Dutch accomplice, Terence Koetsier, were both seen there as pallets of flower boxes arrived.

But by chance on October 13 an employee at one of the transport companies used by the criminals became suspicious about a delivery which arrived at their depot in Holland intended for onward delivery to the Ironworks in Bowling Back Lane, Bradford, another of the addresses used by the conspirators.

Andrew Kershaw, prosecuting, told the jury the man checked the boxes and discovered cannabis was hidden inside.

Dutch police then found that of the 156 boxes on the load, many holding old flowers, a total of 119 contained sealed packages of cannabis with a potential street value of £2m.

On October 16 another load arriving at the depot in Holland was checked and found to contain 151 sealed bags of cannabis with an estimated value of £1.4m.

That load was intended for a unit in Albion Park, Stanningley, Leeds, an address quickly rented by the conspirators after the earlier Ironworks seizure.

The next day there was a third seizure in Holland which disrupted the police surveillance operation because it led to the gang concentrating in the Midlands instead, where Arie Menno Van Esch was described as Elmendorp’s “executive” in that area.

Paperwork seized after arrests revealed a further address had been used by the conspirators during their West Yorkshire operation in Pepper Road, Hunslet, and another site in Meanwood, Leeds, was lined up but not used.

The jury heard between June 12, 2008 and October 10, that year there had been 52 deliveries of flowers boxes to storage premises at the four West Yorkshire addresses which if each successfully held an average 165 kilogrammes could have generated over £70m sold at street level.

Koetsier, 22, who was arrested in Gran Canaria in January this year, was unanimously found guilty by the jury of conspiracy to import and conspiracy to supply cannabis in West Yorkshire and Van Esch, 30, who was arrested in Holland, was convicted of conspiracy to import and conspiracy to supply in the West Midlands operation.

The jury found five other men – Edilson Dos Santos, 24; Jacob Schreuders, 38; Theodorus Klaasen, 60; Jonathan Elmendorp, 29; and Sajid Mahmood, 35 – not guilty on any conspiracy charge.