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A Wallasey man has been jailed for nearly six years after police found cocaine worth up to £1.8 million hidden in the back of his Ford Transit van.
As reported by the Liverpool Echo, Wesley Hughes, 47, was stopped by Staffordshire Police on the A500 in Stoke-on-Trent in February this year. Police acted on intelligence and searched the van and found a plastic bag that had 12 one-kilogramme bricks of cocaine in it!
The drugs were revealed to have a street value between £1.4 and £1.8 million.
At first, Hughes told police he didn't know how the drugs ended up in his vehicle. Later, he did plead guilty to possession with intent to supply cocaine.
Hughes was sentenced to five years and ten months in prison at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on 21 August and ordered to pay a £288 surcharge.
Staffordshire Police Superintendent Dan Ison said: "This conviction follows a regional organised crime unit investigation into the supply of class A drugs and demonstrates the important role we play in tackling serious and organised crime across the region.
"Officers seized cocaine with an estimated street value of £1.8m, preventing a significant quantity of drugs from reaching our communities and causing further harm.
Mr Ison said that crime units across the country will continue to use "intelligence, specialist resources and collaborative working" to find organised crime groups and hold them accountable.
