EXCLUSIVE The US 'export' making millions for UK's gangs: How illegal drug is 'flooding' into Britain from America - and why the criminals could be set for huge profits
Donald Trump regularly complains about the illegal drugs 'flooding' into the US from abroad, but for one particular substance these roles have been reversed.
High strength cannabis is increasingly making its way to British shores, causing a major headache for law enforcement.
Seizures at British airports last year hit 27 tonnes - five times the amount in 2023 - with much of it coming from legal farms in America.
While some caught out are unwitting tourists, vicious organised criminals are also muscling into the market and generating vast profits in the process.
And they could receive a boost from an unlikely source - President Trump himself - with one narcotics expert predicting that the fall in the dollar caused by his tariff regime will make US-grown cannabis even more attractive to British gangs.
Peter Walsh, author of Drug War: The Secret History, described a 'very interesting' phenomenon.
Former Come Dine With Me: The Professionals winners Nicholas Panayiotou, left, and Eleanar Attard, right, were convicted of smuggling American-grown cannabis into the UK
'The US was always the market rather than the source of supply. So while they always grew large amounts of cannabis in the US illegally before it was legalised, that tended to be consumed at home,' he told MailOnline.
'These exports from America will be a response to supply and demand. There's clearly an oversupply in the states and a demand in Europe. If there's a glut it makes financial sense to export it.'
Mr Walsh predicted that the market may continue to grow in the coming months.
'It might also be interesting to see the way that dollar pricing affects it - the collapse of the dollar against the pound following Trump's tariffs could mean you start to see this more,' he said.
As so often with drug crime, the type of people seizing the chance to make money from US-grown cannabis do not always resemble classic criminals.
They include Nicholas Panayiotou, 43, and Eleanar Attard, 45, proprietors of the Touch of Greek restaurant in Chingford, East London - and winners of Come Dine With Me: The Professionals in 2022.
The pair were traced by officers investigating a theft of suitcases and passports from two women waiting for a taxi outside Heathrow in 2023.
It later emerged the theft had been part of a wider conspiracy to use the two women to bring in 58kg (130lb) of California-grown cannabis before robbing it back off them.
Panayiotou was jailed for four years and one month in prison last year while Attard received a suspended sentence.
Another member of the conspiracy, Koby Haik, was sentenced to seven years in prison after he wielded a baseball bat at officers raiding his home before firing two shots of an imitation firearm.
The National Crime Agency, which typically investigates major drug seizures at airports, believes demand for American cannabis is driven by the perception that it is a higher quality product than that grown illegally in the UK and Europe.
Part of their strategy has involved warning potential couriers of the 'life-changing prison sentences' they face for smuggling the drug into Britain, even if it originated in one of the 24 US states where it is legal for recreational use.
Alex Murray, NCA Director of threat leadership, said the trade was attractive to organised crime groups because of the 'significant profits' on offer.
One gang busted by Greater Manchester Police were found with £500,000 in cash and a BMW M4 car.
Detectives targeted the group in a series of raids last year after 100kg of ultra-strong American cannabis worth £3million was seized by Border Force.
Eight people were arrested, aged between 18 and 52.
They were all charged and remanded shortly afterwards.
The legalisation of cannabis in Canada in 2018 has turned the country into another supplier to Britain's illicit market.
Those involved have included Raekelle Powell, 22, a professional volleyball player from Toronto, who was stopped at Heathrow with £600,000 of cannabis in her suitcase and jailed for 15 months last year.
Large-scale cannabis smuggling will inevitably continue thanks to continuing demand in the UK, where it remains the most popular drug among 16 to-59-year-olds.
Despite the rise in imports from North America, much of this continues to be grown domestically in illegal farms - often using slave labour.
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