A FAKE ambulance delivered tens of millions of pounds worth of cocaine and heroin to an industrial park in Colchester, a court heard.

It is claimed an alleged gang of Dutch drug suppliers are responsible for a £1.6billion conspiracy to bring class A drugs into the country.

Birmingham Crown Court heard the men set up a bogus ambulance company in Holland and used a fleet of specially adapted vehicles.

Leonardus Bijlsma, 56, of Hoofddorp, Amsterdam and Dennis Vogelaar, 28, of Vijfhuizen, Amsterdam are on trial on suspicion of conspiracy to supply drugs.

The jury has been told two other men, Olof Schoon, 38, and 51-year-old Richard Engelsbel, have admitted conspiracy to supply drugs.

The investigation was led by the National Crime Agency.

CCTV was played in court showing how, on one occasion in May, the same ambulance seized by the NCA in Smethwick, near Birmingham, was driven to the Moorside Industrial Estate in Colchester.

The footage showed Bijlsma and Schoon arriving separately in a Mercedes car just minutes before, then meeting the ambulance crew at a lock-up.

It is alleged the industrial unit was one of several locations where drugs were unloaded for distribution.

Officers raided a scrapyard near Birmingham in June.

They found the same ambulance filmed in Colchester with more than £38 million in drugs inside, according to Robert Davies, prosecuting.

They also found a diary full of names, numbers and addresses.

Mr Davies said: “The prosecution suggest this was a top-level, audacious, and - up to the point of interception and the arrests - successful and lucrative criminal conspiracy."

About 193kg of cocaine, 74kg of heroin, 19,920 ecstasy tablets and 2kg of MDMA (ecstasy) crystal powder were recovered.

Officers believe about £420million worth of class A drugs was smuggled in with a street value of £1.6billion in total.

In Holland investigators discovered a fleet of modified ambulances being run by Schoon's company, ostensibly transferring patients to and from the UK.

Mr Davies described the firm and its operations as nothing more than "a veneer" for the smuggling operation which sometimes even boasted fake patients.

"Between the vehicles, at least 45 trips can be shown to have been made in 14 months, with the final trip in June," he added.

The trial continues.