Thirteen men charged over Britain's biggest ever drugs conspiracy

THIRTEEN men were on Wednesday (9) charged with conspiracies to import drugs into the UK.

Aged between 24 and 59, the men were apprehended during raids across  London, Manchester, Stockport, St Helens, Warrington, Bolton, Dewsbury, and Leeds on Tuesday (8).

They were arrested as part of a National Crime Agency investigation into the importation of cocaine, heroin and cannabis worth billions of pounds. The NCA suspected the men to being members of an international organised crime group.

Seven men have now been charged with four counts of conspiracy to import class A drugs and four counts of conspiracy to import class B drugs.

They are Paul Green, 54, of Eccleston, St Helens; Sohail Quereshi, 59, of Wood Crescent, White City, London; Mohammed Ovais, 41, of Bournlee Avenue, Burnage, Manchester; Ghazanfar Mahmood, 48, of Green Lane, Bolton; Ifthikar Hussain, 46, of Upland Grove, Leeds, West Yorkshire; Vojtech Dano, 38, of Vulcan Gardens, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire and Ivan Turtak, 34, of Vulcan Gardens, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

A further six men have been charged with two counts of conspiracy to import class A drugs and two counts of conspiracy to import class B drugs.

They are Khaleed Vazeer, 56, of Westwood Avenue, Timperley, Manchester; Steven Martin, 48, of Chorley Old Road, Bolton; Andrew Reilly, 37, of Grange Park Road, St Helens; Mark Peers, 55, of Norbeck Close, Warrington; Paul Ruane, 58, of Bewsey Rd, Warrington and Oliver Penter, 37, of Gladstone Street, Stockport.

Four men and two women from the Netherlands are currently awaiting extradition to the UK.

"We believe we have dismantled a well-established drug supply route," Jayne Lloyd, the NCA's regional head of investigations, was quoted as saying by AFP.

"We suspect these men were involved in an industrial-scale operation -- the biggest ever uncovered in the UK -- bringing in tonnes of deadly drugs that were distributed to crime groups throughout the country."