FIVE people including a Finstall man have been jailed for more than 88 years after a major drugs smuggling operation being run from a Kempsey farm was uncovered.

The men have been given a total of 88 years and 10 months in prison for their part in smuggling an estimated £60 million worth of drugs into the UK.

The huge operation, which was coordinated from a small office on a farm in the Kempsey area, saw drugs, including cannabis, amphetamines and MDMA smuggled into the country from the Netherlands using hauliers, which had no idea they were carrying illegal cargo.

Once in the country the drugs were taken to haulage yards in the West Mercia and Midlands area, where the parcels were separated and collected by organised crime groups from around the country.

Robert Whitehouse, 68, from Dusthouse Lane, Finstall, was one of the five sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday, (November 21), having previous pleaded guilty on May 9.

Whitehouse was sentenced to 22 years and six months in prison for conspiracy to import class A, conspiracy to import class B, conspiracy to supply MDMA, conspiracy to supply amphetamine and conspiracy to supply cannabis.

Robert Scott, 67, from Broughton Hackett, near Worcester, also pleaded guilty in May and received 20 years in prison for conspiracy to import class A, conspiracy to import class B, conspiracy to supply MDMA, conspiracy to supply amphetamine and conspiracy to supply cannabis.

Other men receiving prison sentences include Richard Dale of Walsall, for 12 years, Peter Hillback of Walsall, for 14 years and four months, and Jacobus Martinus Samson, of Beek Ubbergen in The Netherlands, for 20 years.

The sentencing follows a major nationwide and international investigation into the importation of cannabis, amphetamines and MDMA, which is the main constituent of ecstasy, which saw arrests across the West Midlands as well as in The Netherlands.

Operation Gaul, launched in July last year and led by the Serious and Organised Crime Unit of Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police, saw a total of £13.5 million worth of drugs seized, including more than 1,000 kg of cannabis, 107 kg of MDMA and 64 kg of amphetamines.

DI Carl Moore, from the Serious Organised Crime Unit, led the investigation.

He said: "Operation Goal uncovered a significant organised crime group who were responsible for importing and distributing significant amounts of controlled drugs around the UK.

"The sentences handed out should serve as a significant deterrent to anyone involved in criminality of this kind."