Three men jailed following multi million-pound cannabis seizure

Three men who were part of a plot to bring millions of pounds worth of cannabis, hidden in mattresses, into Britain have been jailed.

Weiji Chen, 29, of Birchfield Road in Liverpool and John Kinsella, 34, of St Julien Drive in Liverpool, had earlier pleaded guilty to the offences of importing and supplying cannabis between September 2023 and 16 January 2024. Luke Kinsella, John's younger brother, 23, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis.

Today (8 October 2024) at Liverpool Crown Court, John Kinsella was jailed for 6 Years and 6 months,  Luke Kinsella was jailed for four years and Weijei Chen was jailed for 7 years.

A consignment of 334kg of cannabis was imported from Canada to Widnes via Liverpool’s docks in January 2024 and arrived at a storage unit, The Storage Team, in Widnes by HGV on 15 January 2024.

A vast amount of cannabis had been hidden into mattresses in bed frames housed in a shipping container. Eight bed frames contained 668 sealed packages of cannabis weighing a total of 334kg.

Chen was responsible for arranging for the cannabis to be imported into the UK from Canada so this could be supplied on at a profit. John Kinsella was one of Chen’s regular buyers who wanted a part of the imported cannabis to supply it to others. Luke Kinsella, was also keen to assist his brother and Chen with unloading the imported cannabis, so this high-grade strain could be supplied on by the brothers.

The conspiracy started in September 2023 when a number of ‘test runs’ arranged by Chen and John Kinsella, were carried out, prior to the larger January importation. These importations were of a much smaller scale and were sent direct from Canada into the UK using the postal service.

The lorry with the drugs arrived at The Storage Team around 9am and Chen directed the lorry into the car park. The packages were unloaded and the men went into the building. Shortly after, Cheshire police officers entered the facility and all present were arrested.

Senior Crown Prosecutor Olivia Cristinacce-Travis, from the complex casework unit of CPS Mersey-Cheshire, said: “Over a few months, Weiji Chen and John Kinsella were involved in the importation of cannabis into Liverpool docks on an industrial scale,  valued at over £2 million.

“The two men and Luke Kinsella had planned on supplying high-strain cannabis across the North West region. Due to the sophisticated nature of the importation, this was a complex prosecution in which the CPS successfully worked with Cheshire Constabulary to build a strong case against each of the men, who all entered guilty pleas and have now been jailed for a total of 17 and a half years.

“Illegal drugs bring misery to communities and the Crown Prosecution Service works with the police to bring those responsible for importing and supplying them to justice.”