Health news and discussion on TalkFuse.
Liverpool council manager jailed for selling fake permits to cannabis gang
A Liverpool City Council manager, Alan Hunter, has been jailed for three years for supplying fake roadworks permits to a criminal network in exchange for more than £20,000. The permits helped crews posing as utility workers divert electricity to cannabis farms, allowing illegal activity to go undetected and exposing the public to dangerous cable work.
The wider operation, dubbed the Great Albanian mains robbery, allegedly helped produce at least £21 million worth of drugs. It spanned at least four years, 32 police force areas and 100 cannabis farms; eight men were jailed last year, and three others received sentences totalling almost nine years alongside Hunter. The network came to light after police found cannabis plants worth £1.2 million in an abandoned shop in Bangor in January 2023.
In short
- Council manager jailed for selling fake roadworks permits.
- The permits helped a gang divert power to cannabis farms.
- The wider operation involved 100 farms across 32 police areas.
Explained simply
Roadworks permits allow contractors to carry out work on public streets, and councils issue them to help coordinate works and protect road users. Utility crews may need access to underground electricity cables, but their work must be properly authorised and safely carried out.
Cannabis farms use large amounts of electricity, and illegally diverting power can bypass meters and draw attention to the operation. Tampering with cables can also create risks for workers and the public, including electric shocks and fires.
The reported network operated across many parts of the UK and involved numerous cannabis farms. Its scale matters because it linked local street works to a wider criminal operation and raised questions about how access to public infrastructure was obtained.
Read the full article at the source →
Originally published by Daily Mail as “Corrupt council official who raked in £20,000 as ‘inside man’ for £21million ‘Great Albanian mains robbery’ drug gang is jailed for three years”.