A DRUGS baron who led a smuggling plot to bring illicit substances into the UK has been jailed after he was caught out by his own CCTV.

Jamie Hughes, 37, of Olympia Place, Chapelford, was part of a gang who delivered drugs to clients across the country in vans with hidden compartments.

He was jailed for five years and four months after pleading guilty to his role in the conspiracy at Liverpool Crown Court on December 20.

Warrington Guardian:

Jailed: Jamie Hughes

The 37-year-old, who claimed to be a car dealer, was exchanging vehicles as part payment for drugs such as cannabis, amphetamines and ketamine.

Hughes, who kept a stun gun disguised as an iPhone, installed a CCTV system to monitor his driveway.

It provided National Crime Agency (NCA) officers with key evidence against his network as footage showed various members of the conspiracy exchanging packages or leaving Hughes’s address with parcels.

Detectives were able to bring those involved to justice after traces of ketamine were found in the floor concealment of a white Peugeot Partner van and a hidden compartment in the rear of a white Vauxhall Vivaro van.

Michael Longworth, 38, from Lancashire, supplied members of Hughes's network with amphetamine sulphate.

He was among those captured on the ringleader's cameras and was sentenced to six years in prison after going to trial.

David Whalley, 37, from St Helens, was sentenced to three years and four months after pleading guilty.

He provided the base for the group's couriers at his transport yard, which was also a home for the adapted vans he supplied to the group.

Warrington Guardian:

Pictured: Inside the van

Officers at Cheshire Police stopped Kevin Smith, 29, from Liverpool, on the motorway and found £135,000 cash in his car.

Warrington Guardian:

Pictured: Cash seized 

Smith, who was a courier for the group, received four years and six months in prison.

The Metropolitan Police stopped Daljeet Singh Juttla, 42, from London, with £90,000 of drugs money while Richard Hunt had travelled down to the city on Hughes’s behalf.

Juttla received 20 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, and 200 hours of unpaid work for money laundering.

Hunt, 35, from Liverpool, who was an occasional courier and chased drug debts, received two years and four months.

Alistair Welding, 28, from St Helens and Hughes’s brother-in-law, and associate Matthew Morgan, 41, from Frodsham, brokered drugs deals for the group.

They received five years and four months and five years and three months in jail respectively.

Alan Oliver, 37, from Widnes, received a three-year community order for his part as a courier, while John Ellis, 60, from Liverpool, who supplied cash to Juttla, was given a rehabilitation order.

Jane Lloyd, branch commander at the NCA, said: “Established trafficking routes like these present a complex and troubling threat to the UK.

“With well worked-out logistics a criminal group can turn its hand to anything from gun running or drug smuggling, expanding their own operations or hiring out their services to others.

“NCA officers are alert to the tactics criminals use to shift commodities and hide their activity and are equipped with the skills and tools needed to bring them to justice.”