£25m drug stash gave just £92K profit: claim (From Swindon Advertiser)

£25m drug stash gave just £92K profit: claim

10:40am Saturday 11th February 2012 in News

A DRUGS gang ‘Mr Big’ who smuggled £25m of cannabis into the UK from Holland in lorry loads of flowers claims that he made only £92,000 from the massive operation.

The claim by David Barnes, 42, is not accepted by prosecutors who allege he has transferred large sums of illegal profits to countries including Afghanistan and Tibet.

Barnes, of Hungerford, made trips to Canada, Dubai and Pakistan during the period when he was allegedly salting away his ill-gotten gains, said prosecutor Adam Vaitilingham at Gloucester Crown Court.

But Barnes, who is serving a 12 year sentence for plotting to supply cannabis, told the court most of the money from the racket went to the Dutch suppliers of the drugs.

Giving evidence at a confiscation hearing to determine how much he benefited from the operation, Barnes said he received only £50 a kilo – and had to spend £40 of that paying others who assisted him.

Therefore, he said, he profited by only £10 from each of the 9,200 kilos that were shipped into the UK in a three month period Barnes and his first lieutenant, Michael Woodage, 52, from Whitchurch, Hampshire, who is serving an eight year sentence, are contesting prosecution claims that they made big profits from their roles in the offences.

After spending two days hearing a Proceeds of Crime application, Judge Jamie Tabor QC adjourned the case until 10am next Friday, when he will give judgement at Bristol Crown Court.

The judge will then announce his findings on how much the two men made and how much is to be confiscated from them.

Both men were handcuffed to custody officers in the dock and there was a strong police presence in the court building. The van transporting them from prison to the courthouse had a police escort.

During their trial the court heard that almost ten tonnes of skunk cannabis was found at a farm in Wanborough, near Swindon, in April 2009.

The gang had smuggled the cannabis into the UK among shipments of flowers – such as tulips and chrysanthemums – from Holland. Police smashed the operation when they seized Woodage’s van in March 2010.

The discovery led police to secure buildings on Poplar Farm, Wanborough, which was leased by Barnes. Officers found hi-tech security systems, fork lift trucks, shrink wrapping and other drug-related equipment.

A further raid at an industrial unit leased by Woodage near Hungerford unearthed equipment linked with a drugs distribution centre.

Mr Vaitilingham said police could prove that in a three month period the operation had a £25m turnover. The cannabis imported during that time had a street value of £100,000,000, he said.