Leeds man jailed over £7m drugs haul

Two men including one from Leeds have been jailed after police found nearly £7 million of class A drugs in vehicles they were driving.
By The Newsroom
Published 5th Sep 2015, 13:03 BST
Undated handout photo issued by Staffordshire Police of Barry Briggs, 43, of Seaforth Grove, Leeds, who pleaded guilty to the importation of heroin and was given a five year sentence at Stoke Crown Court. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Friday September 4, 2015. See PA story COURTS Drugs. Photo credit should read: Staffordshire Police/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.Undated handout photo issued by Staffordshire Police of Barry Briggs, 43, of Seaforth Grove, Leeds, who pleaded guilty to the importation of heroin and was given a five year sentence at Stoke Crown Court. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Friday September 4, 2015. See PA story COURTS Drugs. Photo credit should read: Staffordshire Police/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Undated handout photo issued by Staffordshire Police of Barry Briggs, 43, of Seaforth Grove, Leeds, who pleaded guilty to the importation of heroin and was given a five year sentence at Stoke Crown Court. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Friday September 4, 2015. See PA story COURTS Drugs. Photo credit should read: Staffordshire Police/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

Dave Van de Ven, 30, from Rotterdam, was jailed for six years and eight months after pleading guilty to importing heroin and cocaine.

Barry Briggs, 43, of Seaforth Grove, Leeds, pleaded guilty to the importation of heroin and was given a five-year sentence.

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The men were arrested on Wednesday, February 11, when officers stopped two vehicles on the A52 in Cheadle.

A search of the two vehicles, a HGV being driven by Van de Ven and a Renault van being driven by Briggs, led to the discovery of 15 packages of heroin weighing one kilogram each, worth around £5.75 million, and 10 kilo parcels of cocaine, valued at £1.2 million.

They were both sentenced at Stoke Crown Court yesterday.

Detective Inspector Lesley Fowler, who oversaw the investigation, said: “This was a significant seizure of class A drugs - the biggest Staffordshire Police has ever seized in one operation.

“These men were clearly working together to bring drugs in to England for onward distribution.

“Their partnership was uncovered and we have stopped drugs getting onto our streets.”

ends