A group of workmen in Middlesbrough were exposed to be working for an Albanian drug lord after they accidentally caused a fire while digging up electricity lines. The men in hi-vis jackets set up barriers and cones to block off a section of Wellesley Road and began digging, which was when residents realised that they didn’t appear to know what they were doing.
People at the company, Elev8, made it seem legitimate through a series of LinkedIn posts looking for work, despite actually being a front for an Albnian drugs ring. One of them read: “If we can help you with any civils work from fibre to utilities in the northwest we have lads ready with full digging kits etc all accreditations.” However, their real mission was to rewire electricity into cannabis farms run by their drug lord bosses.
After a massive four-year operation, eight employees were sent down for a combined total of 32 years in prison on March 7.
The investigation, involving 32 police forces, uncovered 100 cannabis farms and millions of pounds worth of siphoned off electricity to help produce £21 million worth of weed.
Among them, Colin White, 62, was jailed for two and a half years, Andrew Roberts, 42, for six years, and Graham Roberts, 47, for five.
The group was headed by company directors Ross McGinn, 33, from Huyton, Merseyside, and Andrew, from Wigan, investigators from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU) said.
Sentencing, Judge David Potter said all the defendants were “driven by greed to continue this illegal trade”.
Their work was “pivotal” in setting up cannabis farms discovered in premises including a former hotel, shops, a nightclub, a pub and an empty department store, he said.
He added: “They did so often in broad daylight and in plain sight. They used the cover of liveried vehicles, signage, barriers and high visibility clothing to appear as though they were carrying out legitimate street works. The amount of electricity unlawfully abstracted runs well into the millions.”
Detective chief inspector Zoe Russo, from NWROCU, said the men ran a “highly sophisticated but dangerous operation”.
She said: “Most people, members of the public, would just think that they ordinary company carrying out the work, but actually they weren’t.
“They had no permits, they had no licence. They had no legitimate reason to be there, and in fact, they were there to abstract the electricity.”
