Greater Manchester men jailed as £300m heroin haul found in rice sacks

Two men whose £300m drug operation was foiled when police intercepted a lorry and found heroin stashed inside sacks of rice have been jailed.

Ketamine was also found in the 2020 raid which Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said was the "biggest seizure of drugs in UK mainland history".

Andrew Tait and Craig Parr, both 42, had been followed for three months.

Tait, of Manchester, was given an 18-year jail term, while Parr, of Wigan, was sentenced to 16 years.

Detectives began to investigate their operation in 2019, and in January 2020 they tracked a lorry travelling to a transport depot in Dagenham.

Det Ch Insp Tony Norman said officers knew "something significant was planned" following the surveillance of the men.

Officers followed the vehicle and intercepted it at a service station by Stoke-on-Trent, discovering one tonne of heroin and ketamine concealed in large bags of rice.

The driver was arrested but later died before he could be prosecuted.

Meanwhile, police also raided a farm in Preston linked to the men, when Tait drove into the yard and was arrested, with an encrypted mobile phone taken from him.

Tait, from Openshaw, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs, after a trial.

Parr, from Golborne, had earlier pleaded guilty to the same charge.

Det Ch Insp Norman said the disruption of their operation had led to "the UK's largest mainland drugs seizure".

"There's no denying the devastation it would have had on our communities had this product made its way to Manchester."

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