Traffickers who flooded Manchester with a tonne of drugs worth up to £25m were rumbled when £2m of ecstasy was found in a crate containing a lawnmower.
The leaders of the conspiracy, Neil Snazel and Derek Maguire, have now both been sentenced to 14 years in prison following a hearing at Minshull Street Crown Court.
The court heard that Snazel, 42, organised the importation of class A ecstasy and class B ketamine from Europe to a warehouse in Stockport, where Maguire, 55, took control - selling it in the UK.
Snazel arranged for drugs to be smuggled into the UK from the Netherlands in at least 15 shipments of machinery over a four-month period.
It was only in October 2015, when a shipment was held up by problems in the Channel Tunnel, that the conspiracy was uncovered.
A freight company in Slough was dealing with a lorry which had collected a pallet shipped from a company in Holland.
Because the curtain on the side of the lorry had been slashed, staff decided to check the load.
On inspection of a crate, they found a box containing a lawnmower with a hidden compartment containing 76 black packages.
Testing revealed they contained £2m of extremely high purity MDMA - ecstasy.
The packages had been addressed to a courier business in Stockport.
In November National Crime Agency officers identified 14 similar deliveries to the address made between July and October 2015 whose labels indicate Snazel had shipped 1,033kg of drugs into the country with a potential street value of between £20m and £25m.
CCTV footage showed Derek Maguire collecting the fourteenth delivery 10 minutes after it was dropped off.
In November 2015, officers raided the unit in Stockport, seizing notes and a mobile phone.
They also searched Maguire’s home in Wythenshawe, and found records for a self-storage unit in School Lane Trading Estate, Hazel Grove where more than half a million pounds worth of drugs were found.
These included 24 kg of MDMA, ketamine and cannabis labeled by weight and type.
Phone records showed that Snazel and Maguire had been in regular contact, and that Snazel had made frequent trips to Holland.
Snazel was arrested in February last year.
Through further analysis of phone records and text messages, charges were brought against Maguire’s daughter Beth Maguire, and her partner Jack Rhodes, both for being involved in the supply of ketamine.
Mark Maguire, Derek Maguire’s nephew, was charged with offering to supply MDMA.
All three admitted the offences.
Judge Paul Lawton said that Snazel, who had one previous conviction for assault, and Maguire who had convictions for minor dishonesty and money laundering, were involved in a conspiracy on a ‘vast industrial scale’.
He said: “The reality is that this sort of serious organised crime must be met with a significant deterrent sentence.”
Addressing Derek Maguire, Judge Lawton said that after a relatively minor criminal past, ‘you have immersed yourself in the Premier League of serious organised crimes’.
Snazel, of Kenworthy Lane, Northenden, admitted three counts of conspiracy to import drugs.
Derek Maguire, of Harbury Crescent, Wythenshawe, pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy to import drugs, one count of possession of cannabis with intent to supply and another of conspiracy to supply ketamine.
His lawyer, Mark Rhind, had argued that his client was a ‘glorified courier’.
Jack Rhodes, 24, of Chalford Road, Wythenshawe, admitted conspiracy to supply ketamine, and was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison.
Beth Maguire, 23, of Harbury Crescent, Wythenshawe, admitted supplying ketamine and was sentenced to eight months suspended for 24 months.
Mark Maguire, 32, of Mottershead Road, Wythenshawe, admitted offering to supply MDMA and was given 12 months suspended for two years.
Jon Hughes, National Crime Agency operations manager, said: “The huge quantities of illegal substances this group imported made them a significant criminal network.
“After the initial seizure by Thames Valley Police (TVP), NCA investigators were able to provide evidence that Derek Maguire distributed large amounts of class A and B drugs across Manchester, imported by Snazel.
“By bringing this group and other like it to justice, we ensure the public are protected from the harm that the criminal drugs trade does to communities.
“Working with law enforcement partners we are determined to disrupt and dismantle organised crime groups intent on smuggling harmful commodities into the country.”
