A grinning drug importer posed for a selfie beside stacks of banknotes after helping to smuggle 91 million canisters of nitrous oxide into the UK through a web of bogus catering companies.
Benjamin Richardson, 38, from North Yorkshire, was part of a criminal gang that imported the so-called 'hippy crack' despite a nationwide ban – raking in more than £16 million in the process.
He and his accomplices, including his twin brother Thomas Richardson and associate Carl Messen, were jailed yesterday for their part in the elaborate operation, which saw them hide behind fake companies with names like Worldwide Coffee Traders Ltd and Barista Distribution Ltd.
The group's 12-week trial at Leeds Crown Court heard how they imported more than 91 million canisters of the gas – a staggering figure when compared to the 3.8 million used legitimately by major chains Costa and Starbucks during the same period.
Nitrous oxide is commonly used in medicine and catering, but in 2016 a law was introduced banning its sale or import if it was likely to be used for its psychoactive effects.
