A former drugs kingpin whose criminal operation was dubbed the “Tesco of cannabis smuggling” has narrowly avoided a return to prison for lying about insurance deals.
Terence Bowler, 51, was one of the ringleaders of a gang who shipped at least £56 million of skunk cannabis into the UK, hidden in flower boxes from Holland.
Their operation – said to be one of Britain’s biggest drug smuggling operations – was likened to the film Layer Cake and formed the basis for a plot on BBC drama The Shadow Line.
When police broke up the network in 2008 they discovered the gang had left stacks of banknotes to rot, apparently unable to spend the cash fast enough.
Bowler was identified as a top man in the organised crime group, attending “board meetings” at Cafe Rouge in Esher and cafes in Wimbledon and Epsom.
He was jailed for 16 years at Southwark crown court in 2010, and was issued with a serious crime prevention order on his released in 2017.
Kingston crown court heard Bowler was caught breaking the order - designed to monitor his activities - by using his son’s bank account to pay for motorcycle insurance, and lying about his criminal past to insurers.
Judge Martyn Barklem handed him an eight-month prison sentence yesterday, but agreed to suspend it for the next year.
“Court orders are meant to be followed and I don’t minimise the fact you had breached the order. But these are technical breaches, not to do with proposed re-offending”, he said.
“You have turned away from earlier events that gave rise to such a long prison sentence, made efforts to keep in touch with police, letting them know about vehicles you were using.”
Bowler, a father-of-four from Kingston, was ordered to carry out 100 hours of community service after admitting two breaches of a serious crime prevention order and three counts of giving false statements to obtain insurance.
The court heard between 2018 and 2020 he used his son’s bank account for one insurance transaction, did not tell insurers about his previous convictions, lied about ownership of a vehicle, and concealed the state of his vehicle history.
In 2010, a court heard he and Anthony Mills were identified as the leaders of the cannabis smuggling ring, dubbing the “Flowers Gang” by police.
"If the man pushing cannabis on the street, the small-time dealer, is equivalent to the market trader selling his fruit and veg outside London Bridge station, then this group were the big players, the Tesco”, said prosecutor Timothy Cray.
Police discovered evidence of nearly 19 tonnes of cannabis entering the UK market in two years between June 2006 and November 2008, smuggling into the country inside boxes of flowers shipped to Harwich in East Anglia.
Members of the gang enjoyed holidays in Dubai, Italy and Spain, as well as making lucrative property investments.
When a shipment was intercepted in 2008, they switched the port of entry to Hull and a warehouse in Leeds.
Bowler pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to import drugs and money laundering. ends
