Detectives from a national crime-busting unit arrested three men and seized half a tonne of drugs in Basildon - with an estimated street value of £1 million.
In a joint operation with HM Customs and Excise, detectives from the National Crime Squad, swooped at 11am yesterday morning on a van and car as they left a compound near a farm in Old Church Hill, Langdon Hills.
Det Chief Insp John Dillon of the NCS said a shipment of cannabis resin had been tracked from the continent before arriving in Dover hidden under tonnes of scrap metal in an articulated tipper lorry.
The drugs were delivered by a legitimate haulage firm before being picked up by the three men - two in a van and one in a car.
Officers moved in and stopped the two vehicles as they were about to leave the scene. All have been held for questioning at Basildon police station.
Mr Dillon said: "We were contacted by our colleagues from Her Majesty's Customs and Excise with intelligence to suggest a shipment of cannabis was to be delivered.
"The hauliers were totally innocent parties and have been eliminated from our investigations. The two men in the van tried to abscond but were quickly arrested."
Around 50 aluminium cases, two foot square and four inches deep, were retrieved, each containing three to four large blocks of cannabis resin.
He said: "The lorry was full of scrap aluminium. There were tonnes of metal on top of the boxes, so they were well hidden. This is a sizeable seizure of a class B drug.
This amount of drugs could conceivably be for widespread distribution, covering more than just Essex."
The National Crime Squad was formed in April 1998 by an amalgamation of the six former regional crime squads in England and Wales.
It has a London headquarters and its 1,450 detectives are seconded from local police forces.
Hidden - Det Chief Insp John Dillon reveals part of the drugs haul
Picture: ROBIN WOOSEY
By Carl Eve
Reporter's e-mail: carl.eve@notes.newsquest.co.uk
Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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