Leader of £62m cannabis gang jailed for 16 years

The leader of Britain's biggest gang of cannabis smugglers was jailed for 16 years today.

The "flower gang", led by Terrence Bowler, 40 of Kingston-upon-Thames, had shipped at least £62 million of "skunk" from Holland hidden in boxes of flowers, making a £20 million profit.

Another leading figure, Peter Moran, 37 — a second cousin of Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh — was jailed for 14 years. Ms McDonagh, MP for Mitcham and Morden, had sent a letter to the judge on Moran's behalf describing the"great shock" to her family when the severity of his crimes emerged in court.

In all the gang's 12 members received a total of more than 91 years in prison at Southwark crown court.

The gang brought the drugs in through Harwich and Hull and stored them in warehouses in Chatham, Kent and Leeds. The cannabis was then taken to lock-up garages in Kingston, Worcester Park, Epsom and Ashtead.

One shipment in July 2006 contained 224kg of skunk cannabis worth more than £750,000.

Much of the gang's money was laundered at an east London bureau de change, the World Currency Exchange, where gang members took holdalls stuffed with up to £20,000.

A money counting machine recovered from the bureau de change had processed 520,000 notes - the equivalent of £10 million in £20 bills.