A drug dealer has been jailed after he was caught collecting class A drugs worth £3,600,000 from a lorry driver at a motorway service station.

Ahmed Omar, 30, of Newcomen Road, Leytonstone, London, was sentenced to eight years and nine months' imprisonment on Friday, 16 August, after officers from the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU) found 36kg of cocaine in the boot of his hire car.

In June 2023, Omar's car was seen to pull up next to a lorry at Toddington Services, off the M1, when Rudi Claes, 62, removed two boxes from the trailer and loaded them into the vehicle.

Both men were arrested after ERSOU officers attended the scene and searched the lorry's trailer, finding 156kg cocaine stowed among a delivery of empty pharmaceutical insulation boxes used to transport medical samples.

Investigators reviewing a download of Omar's phone discovered that he had been involved in drug dealing since 2021 and had also previously made enquiries to sellers about importing cannabis.

Further enquiries by ERSOU's detectives found that Claes and Omar were trusted members of an international organised crime group (OCG), and that the blocks of cocaine were destined for onward supply across the UK.

Claes, who used his haulage company as cover for transporting drugs, was jailed for 20 years in June for his role smuggling cocaine into the UK, after travelling from Steenokkerzeel in Belgium.

The total potential street value of the drugs seized from Omar's car and the lorry was determined by a police drugs expert to be £19.2 million.

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Detective Inspector Dean Trollope, from ERSOU's Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU), said: "Omar was part of an OCG and played his part in bringing large quantities of drugs into our communities, causing misery and pain.

"Thanks to the hard work of our specialist officers and investigators, both Omar and Claes will be spending a considerable amount of time behind bars.

"ERSOU will continue to pursue drug dealers and criminals intent on importing and distributing drugs in our region."