Telford drug gang trucker jailed for 17 years

Nigel Watson was found to be carrying 30 kilogrammes of heroin and 45 kilogrammes of MDMA by border control officers at Coquelles, northern France, in the summer of 2014.

The 52-year-old from Wellington was part of a gang that used a flower wholesale business in Lancashire as cover for a drug and gun-running operation.

The network smuggled cocaine, heroin, MDMA, amphetamine, cannabis, firearms and ammunition from the Continent in lorries through the Channel ports into the UK to its depot. The drugs would then be sold on to dealers.

Watson, of Clunbury Road, was one of seven gang members jailed for a total of more than 100 years at Preston Crown Court yesterday.

Dutch national Mohammed Imran Bhegani, 40, was sentenced to 36 years in prison. His right hand man Sajid Osman, 44, was jailed for 26 years.

Drugs recovered from four seizures are likely to have had a potential street value totalling almost £30 million.

In March 2014, Border Force officers found two guns, 28 rounds of ammunition, more than 600 kilos of cannabis resin and skunk, 60 kilos of amphetamine, 50 litres of liquid amphetamine, six kilos of cocaine and one kilo of MDMA. Dutch lorry driver Pieter Martens was jailed for 24 years for his role.

Less than two weeks later another seizure was made from a lorry at the Channel Tunnel, containing almost a tonne of cannabis, amphetamine, heroin and cocaine. The Dutch driver was cleared of importation offences.

Watson was then arrested after his haul was discovered on July 1, 2014.

Working with colleagues in the Netherlands, National Crime Agency investigators linked all the importations to Bhegani and Osman, and found that they had been involved in another 13 separate runs from the Continent to the UK.

Bhegani had made all the arrangements, getting consignments delivered to premises in Albion Mill, Accrington, rented and operated by Osman and Nizami Esshak, 56.

NCA officers raided the unit on August 26, 2014, arresting Osman and Esshak along with Taimur Zahid and Hussain Farooq.

Dutch lorry driver Benny Planken, 30, was later arrested after being identified as having imported the cannabis found in Albion Mill.

The men were all charged with importation offences.

Esshak, Zahid and Farooq all pleaded guilty prior to trial, but Bhegani, Osman, Watson and Planken were found guilty of conspiring to import drugs by a jury at Preston Crown Court on February 22 this year. Bhegani and Osman were also convicted of importing firearms.

Planken was jailed for 11 years, and Esshak, of Accrington, was handed a seven-year sentence.

Zahid, of Manchester, was handed a 27-month prison sentence, while Farooq, of Stockport, will serve two years.