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Criminals who posed as legitimate electric workers to dig up cables and abstract millions of pounds worth of power for cannabis factories have been jailed.

Workers from Elev8 Civils and Utilities Limited would drive company-branded vans to locations where they would cordon off areas, dig up pavements and splice into cables to provide direct feeds into cannabis farms, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

On Friday, eight men were jailed for their roles in the enterprise – which investigators found was involved in setting up factories in 32 different police force areas across the UK between November 2020 and February 2024.

The group, headed by company directors Ross McGinn, 33, from Huyton, Merseyside, and Andrew Roberts, 42, from Wigan, Greater Manchester, offered their services to Albanian organised crime groups, investigators from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU) said.

The firm was registered on Companies House and both McGinn and Roberts had LinkedIn profiles in which they posted photos of apparently legitimate work to promote the company.

Sentencing, Judge David Potter said all the defendants were “driven by greed to continue this illegal trade”.

Their work was “pivotal” in setting up cannabis farms discovered in premises including a former hotel, shops, a nightclub, a pub and an empty department store, he said.

He added: “They did so often in broad daylight and in plain sight. They used the cover of liveried vehicles, signage, barriers and high visibility clothing to appear as though they were carrying out legitimate street works.”

He told the court: “The amount of electricity unlawfully abstracted runs well into the millions.”

Detective chief inspector Zoe Russo, from NWROCU, said the men ran a “highly sophisticated but dangerous operation”.

She said: “Most people, members of the public, would just think that they ordinary company carrying out the work, but actually they weren’t. They had no permits, they had no licence. They had no legitimate reason to be there, and in fact, they were there to abstract the electricity.”

Through Operation Spark, set up to investigate the company, police seized cannabis plants with a street value of up to £21 million from more than 100 farms, most of which were occupied by Albanian nationals, acting as gardeners, who said they had been trafficked to the UK.

They used specialist equipment stolen to order by Colin White, 62, of Liverpool, who was working for Scottish Power at the time.

Footage recovered by investigators showed electrical explosions as the gang dug into lines on a street in Middlesbrough.

A photo found on a phone showed Roberts with burns to his face thought to have been suffered while work was carried out.

Ms Russo said the investigation was “one of its kind”.

She added: “For us, it’s the first we’ve seen on such a large scale.”

The group’s activities came to light when police in North Wales found £1.2 million worth of cannabis plants in an abandoned store on Bangor High Street.

CCTV footage reviewed as part of the police investigation showed five men, who arrived in a van bearing company name Elev8, appearing to carry out utility work.

Further information about the group was uncovered from a Whatsapp group on the phone of a suspect who had been arrested for unrelated matters.

The investigation found they were involved in incidents in England, Scotland and Wales, with forces including the Metropolitan Police, Avon and Somerset, Durham, Gloucestershire, Humberside, Kent, Leicestershire, Norfolk, Northumberland, Thames Valley, West Mercia and South Yorkshire involved.

At a search of the company’s base in Wigan, officers found diggers, breakers, generators, vans, motorcycles, and cabling.

Officers believe the gang charged criminals a fixed rate for their services, with McGinn and Roberts, responsible for liaising with crime groups, taking a “significant portion” of that.

Police footage from a search of McGinn’s home showed large amounts of cash being discovered.

The two men pleaded guilty to encouraging and assisting an offence believing it will be committed, conspiracy to abstract electricity, and conspiracy to steal.

McGinn, on videolink from prison, wiped away tears as he was jailed for five years four months.

Roberts was sentenced to six years.

Graham Roberts, 47, of Wigan, who pleaded guilty to encouraging and assisting an offence and conspiracy to abstract electricity, was jailed for five years three months for his key role as the jointer responsible for splicing and connecting live cables.

Groundworkers Greg Black, 29, of Huyton; Lewin Charles, 22, of Roby, Merseyside, Aiden Doran, 28, of Wigan, and Jack Sherry, 20, of Wigan, all pleaded guilty to encouraging and assisting an offence and conspiracy to abstract electricity.

Black was jailed for three years and nine months, Charles for two years and eight months and Doran was sentenced to three years.

Sherry was given a 22-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.

White, who stole the equipment, was jailed for two and a half years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to steal and encouraging or assisting the abstraction of electricity.