‘THE Big Fella’ onion gang ringleader once smuggled £7BILLION of heroin and other drugs using crates of veg.
International crime gang leader Paul Green ran one of the biggest drug smuggling operations known to the UK.
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Dubbed ‘The Big Fella’, Green brought in a staggering £7billion worth of heroin, cocaine and cannabis from Europe over two-and-a-half years.
His trial at Manchester Crown Court lasted nearly as long.
Green, whose real name was Simon Swift, and later changed to James Russell, hid the drugs in fruit and vegetable crates that were transported in lorries.
The king pin was helped by Steven Martin and Mohammed Ovais, who both used their university degrees in computing to help smooth over any fraud issues.
When police exposed their operation, a man named Joseph McKeever was murdered after being wrongly accused by the gang of cheating members out of a drug shipment.
McKeever’s body was found in a burnt-out car.
Green himself also had a target on his back, with persistent death threats and even his home torched.
However, to neighbours and acquaintances, the gang leader was able to maintain his successful businessman persona.
He patrolled the streets in his fleet of luxury motors, including an AMG Mercedes, a Jaguar F-Pace, and an Audi Q5.
Green dressed the part, dripping in designer clothes and Rolex watches, while jetting off on lavish holidays around the world.
It appeared he earned his money through several businesses from nightclubs, a hairdressing salon and a cleaning company – but they were rouses.
HMRC records revealed they made almost no cash.
Behind the scenes, drug were being stored in the Netherlands and Spain where they were given customer codes to appear like legitimate products.
They were hidden within crates of fruit and veg to sneak through customs as strong scents from onions and garlic covered the smell.
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Unknowing parties then picked up the drugs and transported them over the boarder to UK warehouses in Bolton, Wigan, Leeds, Sheffield and Preston.
They were raided twice in 2016 and in 2018 but a judge said it was just the “tip of an exceptionally large iceberg”.
Nevertheless, it allowed police to start forming a case and helped with their investigation.
But Green would distance himself from the criminal activity.
He would go as far as booking a hotel room near his house so officers couldn’t trace his internet history – and he worked from an encrypted phone.
The international gang even stole innocent peoples’ identities to cover up their smuggling operations.
Over time, the police were able to piece together phone records and business documents and collaborate with Dutch police and the National Crime Agency.
Eventually a joint effort of the forces led to the arrests of Green and his crew.
They included Steven Martin, from Bolton, who was Green’s right hand man and handled the dodgy finances.
He enjoyed a similar opulent lifestyle as the main boss.
Meanwhile Muhammad Ovais, from Levenshulme, helped organise the front companies, warehouses and distribution.
Fellow gang member Russell Leonard could speak Dutch which saw him assist with smuggling overseas where Barbara Rijnbout and Johannes Vesters, were leading operations.
Everything came crashing down when Dutch police gathered enough evidence through surveillance and phone tapping.
The National Crime Agency arrested 13 men including Green, Martin and Ovais in dawn raids in 2019 and dubbed it the “UK’s biggest ever drugs racket”.
The trial began in 2021, but Covid saw it adjourned until June 2022, and it would last nearly two years.
A jury spent 141 hours and 21 minutes deliberating on their verdicts.
Green was sentenced to 32 years behind bars, while Martin and Ovais were sentenced to 28 and 27 years respectively.
CHARGES AND SENTENCING
- Green, 59, of Widnes, Cheshire was sentenced to 32 years in prison after being found guilty of three counts of conspiring to import class A drugs, and four counts of conspiring to import class B drugs.
- Oliver Penter, 41, of Gladstone Street, Stockport, was sentenced to 24 years in prison after he was found guilty of one count of conspiring to import class A drugs and one count of conspiring to import class B drugs.
- Steven Martin, 52, of Chorley Old Road, Bolton, and Mohammed Ovais, 46, of Bournlea Avenue, Burnage, were both found guilty of two counts of conspiring to import class A drugs and two counts of conspiring to import class B drugs.
- Martin was jailed for 28 years, and Ovais for 27 years.
- Iftikhar Hussain, 50, of Upland Grove, Leeds, was found guilty of assisting the activities of an organised crime group. He was jailed for four years.
- Russell Leonard, 47, of Grosmont Road, Kirkby, Merseyside, was found guilty of two counts of conspiring to import class A drugs and one count of conspiring to import class B drugs. He was sentenced to 24 years.
- Alan Cumming, 54, of Litherland Road, Bootle, Merseyside, was found guilty of one count of conspiring to import class A drugs, and one count of conspiring to import class B drugs. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison.
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