Midlands men jailed for role in £450m cocaine smuggling gang which hid drugs in cheese

A Coventry man has been jailed for more than 12 years for his role in a huge drug smuggling operation which saw cocaine worth hundreds of millions of pounds hidden inside wheels of cheese.

Jordan Miles, 32, of Whinchat Close, Coventry, was sentenced to 12 years and eight months in prison for his involvement in the sophisticated conspiracy, which saw vast quantities of cocaine imported into the UK from Europe.

Brandon Eley, 31, of Tamworth, Staffordshire, was also jailed for 10 years for his role as a courier in the operation.

The pair were among seven more members of an organised crime group sentenced at Leeds Crown Court this week, following an extensive investigation by West Yorkshire Police.

A total of 22 people have been convicted of conspiracy to supply cocaine in connection with the operation, which prosecutors say could have involved between four and 14 tonnes of the Class A drug, with a potential street value of up to £1.4 billion.

Police uncovered the sophisticated distribution network after cocaine and ecstasy worth £2 million was seized in Leeds in 2023.

Investigators discovered that the gang had imported more than 120 tonnes of cheese into the UK between December 2022 and April 2023, with blocks of cocaine concealed inside the consignments.

The cheese was transported from Europe through Dover to a legitimate distribution hub in Derby, before refrigerated lorries delivered pallets to industrial units in Huddersfield, Cleckheaton and Halifax in West Yorkshire, and Blackburn in Lancashire.

Once there, members of the gang removed the cocaine from the cheese, repackaged it and arranged for couriers from across the country, including the West Midlands, to collect the drugs for onward supply.

The scale of the operation was exposed in May 2023 when police raided a distribution hub in Lancashire and discovered 217kg of cocaine, some of which was still hidden inside large wheels of Gouda cheese.

Each wheel had been hollowed out to conceal two bricks of cocaine.

Following the raid, the gang changed its methods and began concealing drugs in consignments of chocolate spread and frozen fish mince instead.

Investigators used mobile phone evidence and surveillance to establish links between members of the group and track the movement of drugs across the country.

Messages recovered by police revealed a highly organised criminal network with a clear command structure, strict operational security and instructions coming from overseas.

Miles was among four defendants sentenced on Monday, alongside Harry Johnson and Darren Johnson, both of Leicester, who received prison terms of 16 and 15 years respectively, and Aaron Gowans, 28, of Darlington, who was jailed for five years and 11 months.

Eley was one of three couriers sentenced on Friday, alongside Aaron McNally, 38, of Manchester, who received 10 years and nine months, and Antony Etheridge, 70, of no fixed address, who was jailed for 18 months.

Other members of the gang have already received lengthy prison sentences, including Saleem Chaudhri, who ran the Blackburn distribution hub, and Aiden McCullagh, who managed two sites in West Yorkshire.

Zoe Nixon, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS Yorkshire and Humberside, said: "Behind the creative attempts of this group to conceal their dealings was an industrial-scale criminal enterprise which had been funnelling vast quantities of illegal drugs across the country.

"Each of the defendants had a role to play in keeping that enterprise operating, whether that was running the hubs, unpacking the drugs or transporting them to buyers across the country.

"Working closely with West Yorkshire Police, several other forces and an experienced team of barristers we were able to piece together extensive amounts of evidence to demonstrate the men's guilt and hold those responsible for this operation accountable."

Detective Inspector Kevin Daly, of West Yorkshire Police Programme Precision, described the conspiracy as the largest criminal enterprise the force had dismantled.

He said: "This was a vast and complex criminal operation involved in distributing huge quantities of cocaine that were being smuggled into the UK, mostly in what appeared to be legitimate consignments of cheese.

"The quantities of the drug involved make it the largest criminal enterprise that we as a Force have taken down, and the success of this operation is testament to the hard work and dedication of the officers involved."

He added: "We know only too well the damage that drugs do in our communities, where they fuel crime and serious violence, and the negative impact they have on the lives of individual users and their families.

"Those involved in this significant criminal operation were profiting from that misery and we hope it will provide some reassurance to people to see them face the consequences of their actions."

Three further defendants are due to be sentenced at a later date.