Three Nottinghamshire men involved in the smuggling of a £5.5 million haul of liquid amphetamine have been sent to prison.
Ninety seven litres of the substance were found in the back of a van stopped at junction 27 on the M1 near Annesley last June.
Officers from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit discovered them hidden inside varnish tins and arrested the driver, Lee Hill.
The drugs, estimated to have a street value of £5.5 million, were traced back to Holland.
Edward Rooney and Mir Baz were then linked to the importation and arrested.
Shane Bird, 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 arrested.
Hill’s job was to collect and convert it from liquid to powder form.
At a previous court hearing Rooney and Baz pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import Class B drugs to the UK. Hill pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class B drugs.
Following a trial Bird was found guilty of conspiracy to supply Class B drugs.
On Tuesday May 9, at Derby Crown Court, Rooney, 53, of Bestwood Road, Bulwell, was jailed for 10 years.
Baz, 44, of Ferrar Lane in Oulton, Leeds, was given seven years and four months, and Bird, 48, of Woodborough Road, Mapperley, was jailed for eight years and six months.
Finally, Hill, 41, of Lynncroft, in Eastwood, was told he will serve six years.
Det Insp Keith Priest 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.”
