18 convicted in biggest UK drugs trial

London: A court has sentenced 18 members of an international crime group behind Britain s biggest ever detected drugs conspiracy to up to 32 years i...

London: A court has sentenced 18 members of an international crime group behind Britain's "biggest ever detected drugs conspiracy" to up to 32 years in jail after the country's longest-running criminal trial, police said Monday.

The network smuggled several billion dollars worth of heroin, cocaine and cannabis for drug dealers across Britain from 2015 to 2018, according to the UK National Crime Agency (NCA).

The operation was so extensive it required two criminal trials, with one lasting 23 months -- a record in England and Wales. The other trial lasted nine months.

Reporting details about the case became possible after a judge at Manchester Crown Court in northern England lifted media restrictions on Monday following verdicts in the second trial.

It revealed the NCA and Dutch police began working on the case in 2018 after "the vast scale" of the gang's offending became clear, police said.