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Town man arrested in £27m drugs probe
A HARTLEPOOL man is being quizzed after police smashed a £27m international drug smuggling ring.
The 25-year-old is one of eight men and women suspected of trying to bring 20 tonnes of cocaine and cannabis into the UK.
He was arrested after a drug swoop in the town yesterday morning and was taken to Greater Manchester to be questioned by Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) officers.
He was one of eight arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply controlled drugs between February 2007 and March 2010.
SOCA detectives believe a number of "paper" companies were used as a front for the drug-smuggling ring, with service centres across the UK used to distribute packages of cocaine and cannabis they had unwittingly received.
Detectives were unable to say exactly where the raid was carried out in Hartlepool.
The operation saw detectives from the SOCA swoop on locations across the country.
Four arrests were made in the Greater Manchester area, two in Hampshire, one in Grimsby and one in Hartlepool.
They followed a SOCA probe to identify links between several drugs seizures by police in the UK and Spain.
A staggering 4,500 kilos of cannabis and 55 kilos of uncut cocaine have been recovered in a series of busts across England and Spain since July 2008.
More than 1,500 kilos of cannabis was seized by the Guardia Civil in Catalunya and San Sebastian, in Spain, in July 2008.
Three months later, 3,000 kilos of the drug was uncovered by Cheshire Constabulary in West Yorkshire.
Cocaine weighing 40 kilos was confiscated in Cheltenham by Gloucestershire Constabulary in the November with a further 15 kilos of cocaine seized by the SOCA in Bolton in April last year.
The cannabis has an estimated street value of 19m, with the cocaine valued at around 8m.
A SOCA spokeswoman said: "The eight men and women are suspected of using a number of 'paper' companies as a front for their activity and employing business service centres across the UK to unwittingly receive packages of cocaine and cannabis on their behalf."
SOCA said they could not release any further details about their ongoing investigations at this time.
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Monday 28 May 2012
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