AN 'UNTOUCHABLE' Runcorn drugs gang has been rounded up.

After more than five months of surveillance and evidence gathering, police stopped a vehicle in Windmill Hill Avenue North last Wednesday containing a kilo of cocaine - worth £30,000.

Several arrests followed as police 'dismantled this organised criminal group'.

Det Insp Darren Hebden, head of Cheshire police drugs unit, said: "This is an example of our commitment to tackle drug traffickers who consider themselves untouchable.

"It demonstrates our ability to combat sophisticated and complex efforts to avoid detection."

Police are now trying to seize assets bought with drugs money.

"Cocaine has gained a fashionable image and an association with wealth and success, which could not be further from the truth," said Det Insp Hebden.

"It is a drug that completely devastates lives and locks the user into a cycle of dependency."

l Three men - two from Runcorn and one from Warrington - have appeared before Halton Magistrates Court charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine. One of the Runcorn men was also charged with possession of a sawn-off shotgun and possession of cocaine.