Huge haul of heroin and cocaine hidden in pallet of raspberry sorbet
The massive consignment was worth millions of pounds on the street - those behind the crime have now been sentenced
Millions of pounds of imported cocaine and heroin were discovered inside a pallet load of raspberry sorbet at a warehouse in Nottinghamshire.
The haul contained 39kg of cocaine and 18kg of heroin, according to Nottinghamshire Police.
The consignment was found at a frozen food warehouse in Bilsthorpe and is understood to have been the biggest drugs seizure in Nottinghamshire for many years.
It was stowed in a lorry trailer after 26 pallets of frozen yoghurt ice cream was collected from a factory in Wellens, Belgium. This was then moved to a town on the Hook of Holland before being shipped to the UK on August 10, 2017.
The lorry was followed by Border Force officers after it left the Port of Immingham the following day. They remained in convoy with the vehicle as it arrived in Bilsthorpe.
When police searched the unloaded consignment, on August 14, 2017, they found a concealed compartment in one of the pallets which contained the drugs.
Following an investigation, a number of suspects were subsequently arrested, interviewed and charged in connection with the seizure.
Five people went on to be convicted of offences. They were John Brown, 54, who collected a lorry from Ashbourne, Derbyshire, on August 8, 2017, and set off on a journey to Europe.
Two days later he arrived at a factory in Wellens, Belgium, where pallets of frozen ice cream were collected for their return journey to the UK.
The vehicle booking for Brown to travel from Holland on August 10, 2017, was made by 69-year-old William Morritt – director of a company specialising in temperature-controlled transport.
John Madden, 51, was also identified as being involved in the operation. Analysis of phone records showed contact between the group members.
John Brown, of Lawn Avenue, Woodlands, Doncaster, pleaded guilty to conspiring to fraudulently evade a prohibition on the importation of a Class A drug and conspiring to conceal criminal property.
Brown was sentenced to 15 years in prison when he appeared at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday, December 8.
William Morritt, of Poplar Crescent, Ashbourne, Derbyshire, was found guilty following a jury trial of conspiring to fraudulently evade a prohibition on the importation of a Class A drug.
Morritt was locked up for 18 years when he also appeared at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday.
John Madden, of Hall Lane, Kirkby, Knowsley, Merseyside, pleaded guilty to conspiring to fraudulently evade a prohibition on the importation of a Class A drug.
He was jailed for 21 years when he appeared at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday.
His parents, Bernard Madden, aged 72, of Hall Lane, Kirkby, Knowsley, Merseyside, and Marian Madden, aged 70, of Weaver Avenue, Kirkby, Knowsley, Merseyside, pleaded guilty to money laundering for their son. They were not involved in the importation.
They were each given a two-year sentence, suspended for two years.
Detective Inspector Mark Adas, of the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU), said: “This complex investigation has resulted in the seizure of a very substantial haul of Class A drugs before they had the chance to reaching the streets and cause significant harm.
“Drugs fuel violent crime and other exploitative criminal activities and we will continue to work with our partners to protect our communities, combat such criminality and target those involved.”