wmlro.com: drugs gang made so much money they left some to rot

The flower trade between Holland and the UK has never been so profitable: Terrence Bowler from Kingston on Thames set up a business which imported flowers. But over a period of some two years, they imported and sold "skank" - a potent form of marijuana - worth an estimated GBP65 million.

Bowler, 40, along with

- Peter Moran, 37, of Fulham, west London,

- Mark Kinnimont, 40, of Surbiton, south-west London ran the operation assisted in various capacities by

- Liam Salter, 39, of Tadworth, Surrey,

- David Couchman, 38, of Southwark, south London,

- Timothy Sullivan, 38, of Epsom, Surrey

- Asim Bashir, 35, of Ilford, east London

- James Hay, 31, of Ashtead, Kent

- Roger Alexander, 44, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

- Peter Brown, 37, of Kingston upon Thames, Surrey

- Barrie Burn, 59, of Hinton Road, Bristol, Avon

The gang lived the high life - and also shipped money offshore in great quantity - although prosecutors appear unsure of exactly where: "probably Pakistan or Dubai" they told the court. This appears to be based on little more than that the transfers were effected by Asim Bashir at a Bureau de Change in Ilford, a district with a high Asian population. They think they have a handle on the amount: some GBP11 million sent out of the country via that route.

The gang were closely monitored: on one occasion, several members drove across the English Channel with about half a million pounds in their car, tossed into sports bags. They went to Switzerland where, in Geneva, they bought expensive watches for cash. On another run, the gang filled up the space behind the dashboard of their car with hundreds of thousands of pounds in notes.

But they kept no records and they had no idea how much they actually made.

The group "forgot" more than GBP65,000 left in a garage. When the police found it, it was rotting away.

Hampshire Constabulary - which with wry humour has named one of its news services "plodcasts" - says that the money was in such poor condition it was sent to the Bank of England as it could not be put into circulation.

(pic courtesy Hampshire Constabulary)