A man from the edge of Hartlepool is one of four people due in court as part of investigations into an alleged international drugs plot.

The defendants were charged following the appearance of five Mexican nationals in court last month as part of a National Crime Agency (NCA) inquiry.

The four will appear before justices on Saturday after they were accused of the alleged conspiracy to produce class A methamphetamine.

Kenneth Burton, 34, of The Meadows, in Wynyard, near Hartlepool, Paul Harkness Mawby, 34, of Pacific Drive, Thornaby, and Anthony Devine, 34, of Crosswell Park, Ingleby Barwick, will all face Teesside Magistrates’ Court.

A man from the edge of Hartlepool has been arrested as part of a National Crime Agency investigation into a suspected international drugs plot.

placeholder image — A man from the edge of Hartlepool has been arrested as part of a National Crime Agency investigation into a suspected international drugs plot.

Mohammed Khan, 36, of Lea Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham, will appear at Birmingham Magistrates' Court.

The NCA alleges the men were part of a crime group manufacturing the drug at a meth lab on remote farmland near Furnace End, in Warwickshire.

NCA officers, supported by partners from Cleveland Police and West Midlands Police, arrested the men on Thursday after conducting a series of searches in Birmingham and the North East.

The inquiry was also supported by the US Drug Enforcement Agency.