Four admit part in international cannabis smuggling conspiracy
Four men have admitted being involved in smuggling cannabis into the UK and supplying the drug in the Shropshire area.
They are among 11 men said to have been part of an international conspiracy to bring quantities of the Class B drug to the Market Drayton area.
At Birmingham Crown Court on Friday, David North, Baan Klootwijk, David Berry and Jamie Grant all pleaded guilty to charges relating to the importation and supply of drugs between November 2011 and February last year.
David North, 50, of Blore Road, Hales, near Market Drayton, and Klootwijk, 47, of Nantwich, were remanded in custody awaiting sentence.
Grant, 25, of Sovereign Lane, Ashley, near Market Drayton, and Berry, 42, of Manchester, were allowed conditional bail. North's uncle, Barrie North, 71, denied the smuggling allegation, but admitted being involved in the supply of cannabis.
Two other defendants, Craig Little and Mark Ballinger, also denied the importation charge but admitted being part of the sale of drugs in the Shropshire area. Barrie North, of Audlem Road, Woore, near Market Drayton, and Little, 31, of Duffield Road, Middleton, were given conditional bail while awaiting sentence. Ballinger, 32, of Farnborough, Hampshire, was remanded in custody.
Four others, Ashleigh Watkin, Gary Keith Davies, David Thompson, and Stuart Grant, all deny the smuggling charge. Watkin also denies being involved in the supply of cannabis. Judge Michael Chambers QC adjourned their cases for a three-week trial to start on April 23. Davies, 37, of Overdale, Telford, and formerly from Market Drayton, Watkin, 38, from Loggerheads, near Market Drayton, Thompson, 42, of Laburnum Avenue, Cannock, and Stuart Grant, 42, of Deansfield Close, Bearwood, Staffordshire, were allowed conditional bail.
The defendants were held after police raids last year at Adderley Road Industrial Estate, Market Drayton. Hundreds of kilograms of cannabis, with an estimated street value of £3,000 per kilo, were recovered.
