LONDON: Four men have been jailed for a total of more than 30 years after a £5.5 million drugs haul was discovered in Nottinghamshire.
Almost 100 litres of liquid amphetamine was seized by officers after a van was intercepted at junction 27 of the M1. A total of 97 litres of the drug was found hidden inside ten tins of varnish.
The drugs, which were discovered by the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU) in June 2015, were traced back to Holland and had an estimated street value of £5.5 million.
Driver Lee Hill, 41, of Lynncroft, in Eastwood, was arrested at the scene, while Edward Rooney, 53, of Bestwood Road, in Bulwell, and Mir Baz, 44, of Ferrar Lane in Oulton, Leeds were subsequently identified as being responsible for the importation and arrested.
Shane Bird, 48, Woodborough Road, in Mapperley, who had been recruited as a ‘fixer’ to arrange a chemist to convert the liquid amphetamine and as a courier to transport the drugs, was also detained.
Hill’s job was to collect and convert the drugs from liquid to powder form. At a previous court hearing he pleaded guilty to supply Class B drugs, and on May 9, at Derby Crown Court, he was jailed for six years.
Rooney and Baz pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import Class B drugs to the UK, and were jailed for 10 years and seven years and four months respectively.
Bird was found guilty of conpiracy to supply Class B drugs following a trial and was sentenced to eight years and six months in jail.
Detective Inspector Keith Priest, of EMSOU, said: “These convictions are the result of an in-depth inquiry into international drugs trafficking, which spanned a number of months.
“The hard work of the officers involved has not only put a major dent into the operations of this particular organised crime group, but also prevented a significant amount of drugs from reaching the streets of Nottinghamshire.”
