Eight charged over Chelmsford cocaine haul
Eight people arrested after police seized cocaine with an estimated street value of £12m have been charged.
The 80kg of cocaine was found in a van which was stopped in Chelmsford, Essex, on Saturday afternoon.
The haul is the biggest uncovered by the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit since it was set up in 2008.
Seven men and a woman from Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire have been charged with conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
They are all due to appear at Halton Magistrates' Court later.
Two were arrested at the scene and the others were arrested after raids in Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire and Lancashire.
The eight people charged are:
- Paul Harwood, 50, of Woodsend Road South, Urmston, Greater Manchester
- Steven Harwood, 25, of Valley Road, Urmston
- Richard Brookehouse, 45, of Coronation Avenue, Grappenhall, Warrington
- Diane Brookehouse, 41, of Coronation Avenue, Grappenhall, Warrington
- Andrew Wilde, 52, of Wood Lane, Partington, Greater Manchester
- Gerrard Garner Mooney, 30, of Denstone Avenue, Aintree, Merseyside
- Carl Wall, 36, of Poplar Close, Halewood, Merseyside, and
- Karl Peter Glennon, 46, of Davyhulme Road, Urmston.