Felixstowe 8-tonne cannabis haul ends with 18-year sentence at retrial
Robert Flook pleaded guilty at a retrial and received 18 years for a South Africa-to-UK smuggling ring whose 7.5-tonne cannabis load, seized at Felixstowe in 2006, was the Metropolitan Police's largest ever cannabis seizure. His original 26-year sentence had been overturned on appeal.
On 10 September 2006, customs officers at Felixstowe inspected a container of
tables and chairs shipped from South Africa and found about 7.5 tonnes of
cannabis inside.[1]The load, reported as eight tonnes with a wholesale
value of £12 million, was the Metropolitan Police’s largest ever seizure of
the drug.[2]The container was the 26th in a series of shipments behind two
conspiracies to import cannabis and cocaine into Britain, a trade running
since 2001.[1]
Robert Flook, 46, of Eltham, was convicted at Blackfriars Crown Court in
August 2007 on both conspiracy counts.[2][1]In February 2008 he received
26 years overall, with a 13-year concurrent term for the cannabis load.[2]The Court of Appeal ruled the conviction unsafe in July 2009 and ordered a
retrial.[1]
At the retrial at Isleworth Crown Court, Flook pleaded guilty to two counts,
admitting concern in the supply of 8.1 tonnes of cannabis alongside 150 kg of
cocaine, and was sentenced to 18 years.[3]The court heard the ring had
moved eleven cannabis containers worth £132 million wholesale between 2001 and
2006.[2][3]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
1 March 2010 is the publication date of the retrial report; the plea and resentencing happened the week before.
The seized load is given as about 7.5 tonnes by the court, eight tonnes in press reports, and 8.1 tonnes in the retrial admission; this report uses the court's figure.
The South African arm of the network, including two 30-year sentences there, is a separate proceeding left out here.
No verifiable photo of the seizure or the trials could be recovered, so this report has no pictures.
Callum Roper, 22, of Holton Road, Barry, was jailed for 30 months at Cardiff Crown Court after admitting offences involving the supply of cannabis and magic mushrooms. He pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of both drugs between 3 December 2025 and 14 September 2026 and had been remanded in custody awaiting sentence.
Bolton Crown Court sentenced seven members of three linked drug gangs that trafficked cocaine and cannabis between Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent and North Wales. Five men received prison sentences of up to eleven and a half years, while two couriers received community orders and two leaders await later sentencing.
Daniel Thompson, 36, was found with 8,223.6 grams of cannabis resin, valued at up to £35,950, when officers searched a house on Moss Side Lane in Rixton in July 2023. Chester Crown Court gave him a nine-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months and 100 hours of unpaid work after he admitted possessing the resin with intent to supply and possessing cocaine.
Sentenced 1Cannabis 8.2236 kgPrison 9 months suspended for 12 months
Bradford Crown Court jailed Alfie Leahy, 21, for five years and Connor Broadbent, 26, for three years and four months over drugs found when police raided two homes in the Holmewood area at dawn on 17 July 2026. Cannabis was seized at a Grayswood Crescent address and cocaine, cash and jewellery at Dawson Street; police put the total street value of the drugs at more than £22,000.
Charged 2Prison 5 years (Leahy); 3 years and 4 months (Broadbent)
