By community correspondent William Caruana Three drug bosses involved in the largest ever cannabis drug smuggling ring in Britain have pleaded guilty in a recent trial here in Kingston. Twelve men have been found guilty so far, others are still on the run but two were apprehended in Calais. The men operated in garages and houses in Kingston, Worcester Park, Surbiton, Epsom and Ashtead but the police made their move after a 14 month undercover surveillance operation.

As much as 250kg of cannabis a week was imported from Holland smuggled in flower boxes. The drugs where then sold on to dealers around Kingston.

The superiors of the ring made ridiculous amounts of money from importing and selling drugs in the South East - up to around £1m a week. They have made an astonishing £70m in profit since August 2007 but persecutors have said this maybe just a fraction of what they could have made. Some of the money was laundered out of the country to Dubai and Pakistan. The criminals also created off-shore bank accounts to filter their profits and had so much money that, unbelievably the police found rotting cash in their lock ups in the Kingston area. The bosses took trips abroad to Switzerland to buy anything they could, just to get rid of the money, such as expensive watches.

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Wallace said: “They were making grotesque profits off the back of the addiction this drug reaps. There was so much cash flying around this organisation they just didn’t know what to do with it.” All 12 men face years behind bars and under new laws, where the police can confiscate their proceeds of crime such as their homes, cars and bank accounts so they can’t continue to use the money after being released from prison.