£300m heroin and ketamin gang crooks locked up

DETECTIVES intercepted a lorry containing £300 million worth of drugs in what police have said is the 'UK's largest mainland drugs seizure.

- ANDREW BARDSLEY

The huge drugs bust followed a covert operation by Greater Manchester Police acting on intelligence.

It ended with the seizure of a shipment worth an 'immense' value on the streets, which had been imported into the country via a port in the south.

Drug bosses recruited a Wigan-based team to courier the narcotics a metric tonne of heroin and ketamine with a street value of £300m - to the North West. But they were unaware that their every move was being tracked by police.

The HGV containing the drugs hidden in bags of basmati rice - was intercepted at Keele services off the M6. Now two Wigan men have faced justice for their roles in the staggering seizure.

Craig Parr, who was said to have led the logistics team, was jailed for 16-and-a-half years, while Andrew Tait, who acted as 'muscle' and offered organisational support, was locked up for 18 years. Manchester Crown Court heard that a huge quantity of heroin, 785 kilos, and 294 kilos of ketamine was imported into the UK by sea through Felixstowe port in the southeast of England.

The shipment had begun from Pakistan, then via India before arriving in the country. The importation had been arranged using a 'sham' company with an address in London, the court heard.

One named director didn't exist and the other was under the name of an innocent person whose identity had been stolen. After a shipping container with the drugs had arrived in the country, it was brought to a distribution yard in Essex.