SEVEN members of an international drug gang are today in jail after being brought to justice for crimes linking Elvington, Doncaster, Bristol and China.

The verdict by the eight men and three women at Leeds Crown Court late yesterday afternoon that murderer Bao Lung Huang was part of the gang ended a series of trials.

They were sparked by the discoveries of a massive cannabis factory on Elvington Industrial Estate in February 2009, and the body of gang member Cai Guan Chen in Selby Canal at Burn a month later. The trials began this spring, but a court order forbade any reporting until the last one concluded yesterday.

In the final trial, Huang claimed he only ran a grocery business in the Elvington warehouse and was not involved in the cannabis operation hidden behind a partition wall. But the jury heard he was linked to a second cannabis factory hidden in the upstairs rooms of a Bristol house.

Accomplice Zhong Xiang Wang gave evidence for the prosecution, and told the jury Huang forced him to sign the lease for the Elvington warehouse, with threats of destroying his cash-and-carry business and kidnapping his son. Wang claimed Huang also forced him to cooperate in the movement of between £500,000 and £700,000 through his personal and company bank accounts to Chinese destinations.

Caroline May, for the Crown Prosecution Service in North Yorkshire, said it was a very complex case and the service was determined to leave no stone unturned in its quest for convictions.

She said: “We hope that the conviction of all those involved in Mr Chen’s brutal murder brings some justice for the family and sends out a very clear message: we will prosecute these crimes robustly and vigorously; organised crime and violence will not be tolerated in our community.

“I hope that these convictions bring some measure of comfort to Mr Chen’s widow and his family at home in China. Our thoughts go out to them.”

The defendants in the trials were:

The murderers

Bao Lung Huang, 44, of Fujian, China, and Zhouli Zhang, 50, of Scarfe Avenue, Doncaster. Both now serving life for murder and will be sentenced today for conspiracy to produce cannabis. Both acquitted of money laundering.

The murder accomplices

Shaozhe Wang, 24, who claimed he was 17 when arrested at Elvington, of Dong Bei, now serving six years and nine months.

Xia Hua Chen, 28, of Fujian, China, now serving four years and nine months. Both were convicted of perverting the course of justice and cannabis production.

The gardeners

An Zheng, 31, of Hullbridge Road, Hockley, Essex, serving two years for cannabis production in Elvington, plus three months for skipping bail. Lihua Dai, 50, of no fixed address, serving two years for producing cannabis at the Doncaster factory.

The money launderer

Zhong Xiang Wang, 41, of Lea Bridge Road, London, awaiting sentence later this month after admitting sending criminal money out of the country.

The murderers’ girlfriends

Hanbing Zhang, 40, of Undine Street, Tooting, London, and Ying Xue, 36, of no fixed address, were both cleared of cannabis production. Hanbing Zhang was also cleared of money laundering. Xue is still behind bars today, facing deportation.

Arrested at the Elvington factory

Jun Wang, 26, of no fixed address, was deported after he was acquitted of conspiracy to produce cannabis.