Drug operation was based in "industrial unit "

6:44pm Wednesday 22nd August 2007

Comments (0)   Have your say »

POLICE unearthed hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of cannabis when they cracked a drug operation based out of an industrial unit in Hatfield.

Nearly 48 kilos of the drug was taken out of Unit 8, in Fiddlebridge Industrial Estate and placed into a Transit van for distribution.

The Transit van was stopped at 4pm on March 27 as it was being driven westbound on the M25 between junctions 22 and 21A near St Albans. Prosecutor Helen Lewer told St Albans Crown Court that the driver had given the police a false name.

He later admitted he was Paul Cooney, 35, of Pallister Terrace, Roehampton.

More than an hour and 25 minutes later Anthony Kinghorn, 34, of Wheatley Road, Welwyn Garden City was stopped by police as he drove a Mitsubishi Pick Up along a slip road onto the M25 at St Albans. Police found a plastic bag of money and two telescopic police-style batons in the vehicle.

When police asked Kinghorn how much money there was, he laughed and told them to guess before telling them it was £36,490.

Miss Lewer said Kinghorn had rented the unit at the Fiddlebridge Industrial Estate for two years to run an alarm business. He had built in a secure area with extra lock to hold the drugs where police later discovered a further 4.98 kilos of cannabis. The total street value of the cannabis was between £300,000 and £450,000.

Kinghorn and Cooney both pleaded guilty to possessing 47.9 kilos of cannabis with intent to supply on March 27 this year. Kinghorn also admitted possessing 4.98 kilos of cannabis with intent to supply, possessing £36,490 of criminal property and possessing two offensive weapons on the same day.

Defending Kinghorn, Osmon Osmon, said he had been suffering from a cocaine addiction and had got into debt. He said: "He was getting drugs on the tick and had got debt and was asked to look after the boxes."

He said Kinghorm, who had been a Sky dish installer, was not the principle importer or supplier.

Geoffrey Payne for Cooney, said he had been paid £800 as a courier for the drugs. He said he had been short of money after a carpet fitting business he was running got into debt. He said he had not been living a lavish life-style.

Recorder Robert Gaitskell QC jailed Kinghorn for two-and-a-half years, saying: "You were a member of a sophisticated and well organised drug enterprise."

He jailed Cooney for 15-months saying: "Without drivers the operation would not be feasible."

The judge ordered the destruction of the drugs and the confiscation of the Transit van, Mitsubishi and an Audi car that Kinghorn had been driving.