A DRUG dealer who was caught with tens of thousands of pounds of heroin when his van was pulled over by police on the M62 has been jailed.

The class A drugs were found stashed in a hidden compartment inside Gavin Lloyd’s Citroen Berlingo when it was stopped near to junction eight of the motorway at Burtonwood back in March.

Warrington Guardian:

Three quarters of a kilo of heroin, coming in at an estimated street value of £75,000, and £3,500 of cash was seized.

During a subsequent search of the 27-year-old’s home in Rochdale, another £4,920 was found in his kitchen cupboards as well as dealers’ lists, a vacuum packing machine and scales which appeared to have been used in the packaging of drugs.

Messages on his two mobile phones meanwhile indicated that he had been involved in ‘dealing drugs in large amounts for a sustained period of time’ in the Manchester area.

Lloyd admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and cannabis and money laundering and was jailed for seven-and-a-half years at Liverpool Crown Court.

Warrington Guardian:

Detective Adam Cronshaw, of Greater Manchester Police’s serious and organised crime unit, said: “Heroin poisons our communities, it destroys addicts’ lives with its highly addictive and degenerative side effects.

“Many users turn to crime like shoplifting and domestic burglary to pay to feed their habits.

“Some are vulnerable, and so often get exploited to pay off drug debts.

“Lloyd was part of the supply chain that brought this drug into Manchester, but thankfully his criminality has been halted by our officers.

“I hope today’s sentencing serves as an example to those involved in organised crime that we will target them and do everything in our power to bring them to justice.”