A drug dealer who stuffed blocks of cocaine worth £18,000,000 into pallets of frozen chicken has been jailed for nine years.
Edward Durnion, 36, was stunned to find police had reached his drug delivery at a north London frozen good wholesaler before he did – and replaced it with books.
Officers had a little more fun with the 192kg haul after bringing it back to the station, laying the bricks out across six tables in the style of a Roman road.
On March 13 this year, West Midlands Police’s Regional Organised Crime Unit intercepted the cocaine after following up on another consignment of drugs found last November.
The manager at the wholesaler told them a new consignment from the same supplier had just arrived that morning.
A rummage through the pallets revealed the jaw-dropping extent of the hoard: class-A drugs with an estimated wholesale value of £5.5m and a potential street value of £18m.
The following day, Durnion was spotted arriving at the business park in a van, and officers from the Met followed his movements as he drove to a a storage unit in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire.
That was where he discovered his valuable delivery had been replaced with a library.
Durnion, from Kenilworth in Warwickshire, admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine at Stafford Crown Court.
He was sentenced to nine years in jail yesterday.
Detective Inspector Dave Simpson, of West Midlands Police, said the seizure ‘will have caused considerable disruption to that particular chain of supply’.
He added: ‘This is part of our ongoing work to tackle organised criminal activity including drugs networks across the West Midlands and beyond.
‘We’re focused on those thought to be involved in the highest levels of organised crime across our region.
‘It sends out a clear warning to others intent on supplying Class A drugs – we simply won’t tolerate it.’
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