Two Lancashire men are among nine to have been jailed after an investigation into a drug dealer in the Lake District revealed organised crime networks across the country and abroad.

Thomas Whittaker, 42, and Michael Evans, 36, were found guilty of supplying cocaine to Reece Barnes, who was selling cocaine across the country and had links as far away as Portugal and Dubai.

The investigation began in March 2022 after reports that Barnes was selling cocaine in Windermere, Cumbria.

Officers found Barnes was meeting in country lanes with Stephen Stockall, 62, from a Cheshire-based organised crime group (OCG), who would hand over kilograms of cocaine for £30,000 cash.

CCTV showed Barnes would stash the drugs in a shoebox in a storage unit near his home in Windermere and detectives said he would sell them in small amount, using the profits to pay for holidays and city breaks.

Stockall, of Weaverham, was arrested in February 2023 when his vehicle was stopped on the M56 in Cheshire and more than 40g of cocaine was found in his car.

He was jailed for 12 years on Thursday after admitting conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

Barnes was arrested on February 4 2023, in possession of one kilogram of cocaine, following a drug deal with Cain Turner, 32, the NWROCU spokesman said.

Turner, of Hindley Green, near Leigh, had delivered more than 22kg of cocaine to customers that day and when his car was stopped on the motorway £30,000 was found hidden under the front seat, according to police.

Detectives estimated that Turner, who was jailed for eight years and eight months after admitting the conspiracy, had transported more than 100kg of cocaine during the investigation period, with a street value of about £13 million.

He was being controlled by a crime group led by Andrew Stephens, 41, of Golborne, and Simon Buller, 45, from Atherton, police said .

The investigation revealed they were working with criminals in Dubai who were controlling the importation of cocaine from Holland into the UK and would send couriers to ports along the south coast to collect the drugs and store them in safe houses in Manchester.

In May 2023, their courier Anthony Warhurst, 58, was stopped on the motorway with 50kg of cocaine, worth more than £5 million.

Stephens was jailed for 20 years and Warhurst, from Leigh, for nine years and eight months after they pleaded guilty.

Buller is due to be sentenced next month.

Whittaker and Evans, both of Skelmersdale, were found to be supplying multi-kilos to customers across the country, including in Swansea, on the direction of a criminal group in Portugal.

During one trip to Cardiff, Evans was arrested with 7kg of cocaine with a street value of more than £700,000.

Evans was jailed for six years and Whittaker for 12 years.

The NWROCU spokesman said Scott Owen, 33, and Daryl Preston, 36, from a Manchester-based crime group, also facilitated the supply of multi-kilograms of cocaine.

Owen, of Astley, Manchester, who was arrested on a flight back from Portugal in May last year, was sentenced to 14 years six months after he was found guilty following a trial.

Preston, of Atherton, Manchester, received 11 years and six months after pleading guilty, the NWROCU spokesman said.

Det Chief Supt Ian Whitehead, head of North West Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: “During the course of the investigation we estimated that there were about £50 million worth of drugs involved in the conspiracy and we also managed to seize significant quantities of drugs.

“The convictions of these individuals will have a significant impact on drug supply in the North West and the UK as a whole because we have effectively shut down a drug importation route from Holland into the UK.

“Collectively, these individual crime groups assisted each other in distributing hundreds of kilos of cocaine not only to Reece Barnes, but to hundreds of customers across the UK.”