Gang smuggled £2m cannabis in mattresses

Police officers were waiting when the lorry was driven into the storage unit at 09:00 GMT

Three men have been jailed for smuggling cannabis worth £2m from Canada into Britain hidden in mattresses.

The 334kg of drugs were concealed in a shipping container and sent by boat to Liverpool docks before being driven by lorry to a storage unit in Widnes, Cheshire.

But Cheshire Police were waiting and arrested Weiji Chen, 29, John Kinsella, 34, and his brother Luke Kinsella, 23, in January.

Chen and the elder Kinsella brother admitted importing and supplying cannabis between September 2023 and 16 January 2024 at Liverpool Crown Court. Chen was jailed for seven years and Kinsella for six years and six months.

The drugs were imported from Canada into Liverpool docks

The younger Kinsella brother pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis and was jailed for four years.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said they had hidden a "vast amount" of cannabis in mattresses in bed frames housed in a shipping container.

Eight bed frames contained 668 sealed packages of cannabis, weighing a total of 334kg, and were driven to a storage unit called The Storage Team on 15 January.

The CPS said Chen, of Birchfield Road, Liverpool, was responsible for smuggling the high-grade cannabis into the UK from Canada with John Kinsella, of St Julien Drive, Liverpool, one of his regular buyers.

Senior crown prosecutor Olivia Cristinacce-Travis, of CPS Mersey-Cheshire, said: "Over a few months, Weiji Chen and John Kinsella were involved in the importation of cannabis into Liverpool docks on an industrial scale, valued at over £2 million."