£4m Drugs bust in Birkenhead

Oct 28 2009 by Ben Rossington, Heswall News

DRUGS worth more than £4m were found hidden in steel barrels after a white van was stopped by police on the A41.

Officers uncovered 35kg of heroin, two-and-a-half kilos of cocaine and nearly 200kg of cannabis.

The sealed containers were scanned using a Customs X-ray machine before being carefully cut open to reveal the stash.

The Ford Transit was pulled over on the A41 as it left Birkenhead headed to New Ferry at around 8.35pm last Monday.

The six, large lead-lined barrels were strapped to a pallet in the back and covered in industrial cling-film.

They had been imported from Amsterdam on Saturday and stored by a Birkenhead courier firm. A sniffer dog alerted officers to the drugs and the drums were taken to a special scanner used by Customs and Excise.

The driver of the van was arrested. The boss of the courier firm was arrested later at his business after he arrived to let police inside.

The X-ray showed something encased in the middle of the metal. Police opened the barrels using specialist cutting equipment.

At Liverpool Magistrates Court on Thursday, Keith Henson, 45, of Proctor Road, Hoylake, appeared charged with four counts of conspiracy to supply heroin, cocaine, cannabis and cannabis resin over the latest discovery.

He was granted bail on the basis that he surrendered his passport, was electronically tagged and abides to a curfew. He also posted £75,000 surety.

Craig Harrison, 21, of Middleton, Manchester, also appeared charged with the same offences. He was refused bail. Both men will appear at Liverpool Crown Court on November 5.

The find follows a series of swoops by the Serious Organised Crime Agency in Nestonand Greasby two weeks ago.

Seven people – including a 31-year-old man and 20-year-old woman from Greasby, and a 33-year-old man from Moreton have appeared before Wirral magistrates in connection with the seizure.