Cannabis worth millions labelled as Yankee Candles

The prosecution said the men were dealing drugs "on an industrial scale"

Millions of pounds worth of drugs labelled as "Yankee Candles" were posted from America to bogus addresses in south Wales, a court heard.

Four men have gone on trial charged with smuggling more than 300kg (661lb) of cannabis from the US into the UK using the postal service.

Mohammed Hussain, 28, Abu Hussain 28, Sean Montgomery, 24, and Steven Munroe, 44, all from Cardiff, deny conspiracy to import class B drugs.

An operation by police started after a postal worker reported suspicious activity and more than 20 uncollected parcels were seized at a sorting office.

Jurors at Newport Crown Court on Wednesday were told the packages that arrived in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, were posted from California and New York.

Prosecutor Roger Griffiths previously told the court this was "drug dealing on an industrial scale".

On Wednesday the court heard from Royal Mail employee Robert Sennett, who said defendant Sean Montgomery arrived at the Barry depot to pick up three parcels, saying they were "presents, gifts from family".

But Mr Sennett said the parcels were earmarked for an address that "didn't exist", and did not hand over the parcels.

Mr Griffiths said the police were called because, "similar packages had arrived from the United States" that were believed to be "suspicious".

Jurors were told CCTV showed Mr Montgomery at the Barry depot.

Det Con Sean Meyrick, the main investigator in the case, told the court he believed Mr Montgomery went there because he was "directed to collect parcels from America".

The court was told police officer Patrick Levy went to the Royal Mail depot in Barry to view the suspicious packages.

He said there were 14 packages "with Yankee Candles inside", but he was told "they were too light to be candles" and the addresses did not match the postcodes.

He said "they were from California and New York" and that one package contained a long white box, and another a brown box.

The officer said when he looked inside one box there was a "vacuum sealed package" that people used to "transport cannabis".

Jurors at Newport Crown Court were told the parcels were earmarked for an address that "didn't exist"

Jurors were told Mr Montgomery was arrested and police recovered his Snapchat conversations.

Det Con Meyrick said a video was recovered showing a large quantity of cannabis on the lap of someone with tattoos matching Mr Montgomery's description.

He said: "I've been a police officer for 20 years and in my experience the amount of cannabis on his lap is consistent with a kilo of cannabis."

However, under cross examination he said he could not be sure the cannabis in the picture was linked to the conspiracy Mr Montgomery was charged with.

Det Con Meyrick said there were messages from an unidentified person suggesting they should pay a postal worker £5,000 to recover the cannabis from the Barry depot.

The message referred to "60 bags L", which Det Con Meyrick said meant the organised crime group stood to lose £60,000 of cannabis.

Mohammed Hussain was arrested at his home in Ninian Park Road in Cardiff where police found a packet of cannabis, money and a phone, and empty cannabis packages in a car, which had previously been identified by a postal worker.

Mr Hussain and Abu Hussain pleaded guilty to supplying a controlled class B drug but deny conspiracy to import class B drugs.

Mr Montgomery and Steven Munroe denied both charges.

The case continues.