Jailed: Gang used Christian ministry as front for £2 million cannabis smuggling operation
Two Black Country men who were leading players in a cannabis smuggling racket that used a church as a smokescreen have been jailed for a total of 14 years.
Vision Christian Ministries (VCM) was used as a front by a criminal gang to import drugs with a street value of £2 million from Jamaica, hidden in sealed tins of the popular dishes ackee and callaloo addressed to the former charity.
But the racket was exposed six years ago when customs officers became suspicious of inconsistencies on the labels.
As a result the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Border Force swooped and seized three consignments weighing a total of 400 kilos arriving at Birmingham Airport between March and May 2017.
Dalton Anderson, 51, of Groveland Road, Tipton; Alvin Russell, 47, of Wood Lane, West Bromwich, who had links to the Birmingham-based ministry were convicted by a jury after trial last year. On Monday they were sentenced for their crimes after the judge said they played "significant roles".
Sentencing them at Derby Crown Court, Judge Martin Hurst told Anderson: "The evidence against you was overwhelming".
