'Bingo' for police in M6 Toll cocaine seizure

A woman has been jailed after more than 9kg (20lbs) of cocaine, with an estimated street value of £750,000, was discovered in the boot of her car.

Linda Lawrence, 58, was pulled over at the Norton Canes services on the M6 Toll in Staffordshire on 8 October 2024.

Police bodycam footage captured the moment an officer opened a battered cardboard box and exclaimed "bingo" as he started to retrieve the haul of cocaine.

Lawrence, of St Neots, Cambridgeshire, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply Class A drugs and was jailed for six years at Stafford Crown Court on Thursday.

In all, nine blocks of cocaine were found in the back of her brown Mitsubishi ASX.

Other items found in the car included two mobile phones, her passport, disposable gloves, hotel receipts and pieces of paper with a phone number on, police said.

Bank statements found at Lawrence's home showed payments of several hundreds of pounds going into her account at random points over at least a year, the force added.

Det Con Liam O'Brien said: "We believe Lawrence was being paid by others to transport these drugs around the country and investigations into the wider drugs network continue.

"This was a really significant seizure of Class A drugs - drugs which would have gone on to cause untold misery on the streets of the UK."

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