£80m drugs ring busted

AN OLDHAM man is one of five people jailed in what is believed to be the largest prosecution for cannabis supply ever undertaken in the UK.

The sentences were the culmination of a two-year West Yorkshire Police operation targeting organised drug gangs throughout the north.

Operation Bizarre saw more than £8m worth of cannabis seized and evidence gathered about shipments from the Netherlands of up to 20 tonnes of cannabis, worth up to £80million on the street.

Rizwan Safdar (30), of Crompton Street, Coldhurst, had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply a Class B drug and was sentenced at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on Friday to 20 months in jail.

Also sentenced for the same offence were Michael Levy (44), of Ealing Place, Manchester, for eight years, Ian Thompson (42), of Langdale Court, Manchester, for five years, Carmello Anthony Abela, (53), of Hillside View, Denton, for 12 years and Geno Abela (42), of Stainton Avenue, Manchester, for nine years.

The police operations was launched in December 2011 when 50 kilos of cannabis worth £422,450 was recovered from a vehicle stopped on the M67 and an address in Crompton Street, Coldhurst - linked to Safdar.

This led police to a supply warehouse in Mottram, which indicated links to a cold storage company in County Durham.

Over the following days, a 1.8 tonne shipment of cannabis, valued at nearly £8million, was discovered at the cold store hidden in a covered load of frozen meat. Arrests were made when police mounted a surveillance operation.

Carmello and Geno Abela were linked to a fake transport company used to bring the cannabis into the UK. West Yorkshire police identified 13 previous shipments.

The brothers used their profits to buy houses, expensive cars, a catering business and property in Malta. The Proceeds of Crime Act is likely to be used to recover money from them.