BUSTED
Britain’s ‘biggest ever’ cocaine bust sees 17 jailed after cops seize £20MILLION drug haul in dramatic M6 raid
BRITAIN's 'biggest ever' cocaine bust has seen 17 crooks jailed after cops seized a £20million drug haul on the M6.
Operation Dreadnought, a covert probe into organised crime in Warrington, Cheshire, led to a total of 21 convictions.
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Dramatic helicopter footage shows the moment boss Jamie Simpson, 31, was nabbed in the van at nearby Knutsford in August last year.
Cops surrounded his Ford Transit in the fast lane and found 186kg of coke stashed inside, in what may be the largest land-based seizure of the drug.
A larger stash was found on a boat off the eastern coast of Scotland in 2016.
Simpson's 11-and-a-half-year sentence in April for conspiracy to supply can only now be reported.
Cheshire Police said Simpson and associates Andrew Daniels, 41, Clare Smith, 36, and Dean Brettle, 37, had travelled to Kent and picked up the consignment from Rochester Pier, where it is believed to have come in from Europe.
The three gang members were also jailed for conspiracy to supply cocaine, with Daniels sentenced to eight years and six months, Smith to eight years and nine months and Brettle to six years.
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Police said Simpson's dealing came to light as they carried out surveillance on the gang run by Oldroyd, 29, who was jailed in May for 14 years and three months for conspiracy to supply cocaine.
Detective Chief Inspector Mike Evans, from Cheshire Police's Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said Oldroyd was running a nationwide drugs operation and would sometimes work with Simpson and his gang to acquire cocaine.
Mr Evans said: "We know the reach of this was right across the UK essentially, due to the amounts involved."
He said the gang led "cash-rich" lives and drove fast, high-powered cars - with Oldroyd driving 17 different cars during the 14 months he was under surveillance.
A video filmed on a phone shows Oldroyd and Taluant Paja, 22, who was jailed for six years and six months for his part in the conspiracy, counting around £150,000 in cash on a table next to flash Rolex watches.
Mr Evans said: "They were carefree, there was an arrogance to them and they led a bit of a gangster lifestyle."
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Mr Evans said it was the gang's extravagant lifestyles which led to their arrests.
He said: "It's really good that the community has fed us the intelligence that's allowed us to start this operation.
"So if you have got people in your community who are living beyond their means and you suspect their involvement in drugs then ring Crimestoppers or ring police and let us act on that information."
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