Plot to import millions of pounds worth of drugs into the UK was foiled when Spanish police became suspicious of a consignment of five pallets

Plot to import millions of pounds worth of drugs into the UK was foiled when Spanish police became suspicious of a consignment of five pallets awaiting shipment to Cumbria, a court heard. Police in Seville opened the boxes and found more than four tonnes of cannabis which would have been worth £12 million if it had reached the streets of Britain.They replaced the drugs with sand and bricks and sent the load on its way.Then, a jury at Carlisle Crown Court was told, they alerted their counterparts in Cumbria, so they were waiting when the consignment arrived at a cash and carry warehouse in Windermere.The alleged ringleaders were arrested on the spot and charged with various drug-dealing and money-laundering crimes.Further investigations showed that cannabis worth a total of £35m could have been sent in four previous consignments.The prosecution says a gang of local people, led by George Tymoszycki of Storrs Park, Bowness-on-Windermere, were involved in importing the cannabis.Tymoszycki died in June.Those on trial are his ex-wife Sharon Ambrose, 48, of Storrs Park, Bowness-on-Windermere; John James Nightingale, 65, of Lane End West, Windermere who runs Lakes Car Hire in Windermere and Duncan William Maxwell, 43, of Lake Road, Windermere. Nightingale has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to supply cannabis and to money laundering, while Ambrose and Maxwell have both denied money laundering.The court was told that Nightingale supervised the deliveries while Nightingale, Maxwell and Ambrose then put the money through their bank accounts in an attempt to hide its origin.The trial is expected to last about three weeks.