ESSEX gangsters tried to smuggle enough cannabis into Britain to make joints stretching from John O' Groats to Land's End.: "12-strong gang were foiled by the Serious Organised Crime Agency, who tracked the shipments from Spain in a covert sting operation last summer.
The gangsters were jailed for a total of 66 years at Basildon Crown Court on Thursday.
Investigators mounted surveillance operations at the mob's drop-off points – a depot in Orsett and an industrial site in nearby Dagenham.
The first wave of arrests were made as the gang tried to process nearly two tonnes of cannabis at the Orsett site, on June 27, last year.
Driver Gary Burns, of Roding Hall Cottages, High Roding, was caught with a tonne of drugs in his vehicle, while fellow gang member Stephen Ely, of Southall, was tackled on a central reservation as he tried to flee.
Just a fortnight later on July 12, ringleader Paul Gurr tried to import another two tonnes, but his gang were caught unloading from a lorry in Hounslow, west London.
Gurr was arrested in a Brentwood restaurant later that day."