Crime bosses thought their £2m vegetables plan was water-tight - but their every move was being watched

Bosses of a drugs conspiracy who tried to conceal £2million of cannabis in pallets of broccoli were caught red-handed by specialist officers.

The 'professional' firm believed their plan was water-tight, having set up a front company called LB Wholesale under false names and ordering an innocent shipment of broccoli, aubergine and lettuce as a 'dummy run' a month earlier, the Liverpool Echo reports. They even went fishing and chatted in Starbucks as they awaited the arrival of the huge stash of drugs.

But they had no idea their every move was being monitored by specialist officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the shipment was intercepted at Seaforth Docks.

Liverpool Crown Court heard David Hunter, 51, was at the head of the conspiracy, closely supported by his trusted associates, 48-year-old Stephen Quigley and Gary McEvatt, 38. The leaders of the group, described as 'professionals' by a top judge, all have other convictions for high-level drug trafficking.

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Also involved in the conspiracy were Gary Sarson, 61; who played a 'significant role', and John Ianson, 58, and Andrew Unsworth, 41, both described as minions paid to do the 'heavy lifting'. All six men appeared for sentence on Wednesday, more than five years after the shipment was intercepted at the docks on May 27, 2018.

As the men awaited the transport of their lucrative shipment to a unit they had hired in Moss Side Farm, Lancashire, they held regular meetings to plan their next steps. On May 28, Hunter met Sarson at the home ground of Fylde FC in Lancashire.

The next day Hunter, Unsworth and Quigley and McKevatt had a meeting in a Starbucks near Ribby Hall caravan