Two Lancashire men played a key role in a fake company set up to smuggle 1.3 tonnes of cocaine into the UK. .
The OCG sent an email to the company renting out the unit saying it “will be used for the storage of house clearance items plus pallets of returned goods from Amazon, Argos and other relevant retailers that need to sell their returns”. But the company was completely fake and had no ties to any legitimate retailers.
NCA officers began an investigation to identify the offenders behind the conspiracy and arrested the crime group in November 2023. When ringleader Schofield, of School Drive, Halewood, near Liverpool, was arrested officers discovered he controlled another property in Melrose Road, Waterloo, Liverpool.