Two men admit smuggling cannabis labelled as Yankee Candles

Two men have admitted conspiring to import millions of pounds worth of cannabis labelled as “Yankee Candles” from America to south Wales.

Four men were charged with importing more than 300kg (661lb) of cannabis using a postal service and previously denied the claim, but Mohammed Hussain, 28 and Abu Hussain, 28, both from Cardiff, changed their plea to guilty on Thursday.

The two had already pleaded guilty to supplying the class B drug, but jurors at Newport Crown Court found both men guilty of conspiracy to import class B drugs.

Both will be sentenced at a later date, while the two other defendants, Sean Montgomery, 24, and Steven Munroe, 44, still deny both charges against them.

At the beginning of the trial, Prosecutor Roger Griffiths told the court this was “drug dealing on an industrial scale”.

The court heard that 22 packages from California and New York ended up in a Royal Mail depot in Barry labelled as Yankee Candles.

On Wednesday a police officer told the court he went to the Barry depot to view fourteen suspicious packages which were labelled as having “Yankee Candles inside”.

However, “they were too light to be candles”, and the addresses, which were earmarked for bogus addresses across south Wales, did not match the postcodes.

The officer said they contained “vacuum sealed” packages used to transport cannabis.

The case continues.