The dropped Home Bargains receipt that helped lock up a £130m gang

A receipt from Home Bargains and B&M proved crucial in an investigation into a multi-million pound drug operation. David Jones has been jailed for his role in an organised crime group who based themselves out of a Greater Manchester warehouse.

The group was led by a drug importer known as 'Thor', who had been planning to smuggle some £130 worth of cocaine from Sierra Leone to the UK, hiding the drugs in a shipment of flour. In total, six men have been convicted in relation to the operation.

Altogether, their sentences total more then 75 years. Among the six jailed was a pensioner who was sentenced on his 70th birthday, the Liverpool ECHO reports.

READ MORE: He looked like a normal businessman running Greater Manchester warehouse... it was all a lie

Sentencings for the group at Liverpool Crown Court came after the National Crime Agency launched Operation Lemonlike. The seizure of 1.3 tonnes of cocaine with an estimated value of £36 million in wholesale and as much as £130 million street value prompted the launch of the operation.

The drugs were seized at the Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk after the 1,306kg of cocaine were discovered hidden inside a shipment of garri flour. This had arrived on June 8 2022 from Freetown in Sierra Leone, and was headed for an industrial unit at Bradley Hall Trading Estate in Standish, Wigan, after a stop in Morocco.

Darren Schofield, of St Philip's Avenue in Litherland, was described by prosecutor Martin Reid KC as "responsible for the overall coordination of the importation" and "a leading member of a Merseyside-based crime group". Schofield, 45, was given the nickname 'Thor' by the other gang members, seemingly due to his long hair.

Jones was found to be in possession of a kilo of a substance used to adulterate the cocaine when he and Schofield were arrested in the NCA operation. The 56-year-old was being picked up at his home address by his co-defendant on Fountains Close in Kirkdale on September 26 2023.

After picking up Jones, the pair then went to Home Bargains and B&M, where Jones was shown leaving Home Bargains 'carrying a small item'. As he was carrying the item he was seen to drop his receipt.

This showed that he had bought a set of kitchen scales from the outlet. After they returned to the flat Jones could be seen interacting with people in a white van, and Schofield sat down on a bench nearby.

Jones then got into Schofield's car. When he got out again he could be seen carrying a package which he placed in his boot.

It was at this moment that officers investigating the case made their move. It turned out that the brown paper parcel contained Tetramisole, which is commonly used to cut cocaine.

The National Crime Agency went on to retrieve a series of messages from a WhatsApp group called 'LADS' after seizing Schofield's phone. The exchange "expressed frustration about the scales and Jones' perceived inexperience".

Referring to him as "Savage", Schofield said: "Joke this. He's not got scales or nothing. Tbh I'm getting to the point I cba grafting no more. This Savage, he’s just brand new and hasn’t got a f***ing clue."

Another group chat participant then replied: "Lar, this isn’t my responsibility. I’ve made it as easy as I possibly can. I’ve labelled them, told him what vac bag to use and told him he can message or ring me if he’s not sure. Don’t know what more you want me to do. If he’d have messaged me last night, I could have popped past with some scales."

Following the trip to Home Bargains, Schofield then reported "I have gone and got them. He's doing it out the back of the vehicle now."

Schofield appeared in court via a video link from HMP Manchester, and admitted to conspiracy to import cocaine, receiving a sentence of 20 years in prison. Meanwhile Jones, who appeared remotely from HMP Liverpool, admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine and was sentenced to three-and-a-half years.

Sentencing, Judge Brian Cummings KC said: "Nearly all of you have no previous convictions at all or none which are relevant or recent. Likewise, all of you have presented personal mitigation which, in a number of cases, is supported by personal testimonials.

"I take into account all of these matters to the greatest extent that I can but it has to be said that there is a limit to the effect that can have in this kind of case, a case involving serious organised crime. The courts must have regard to the effect of drug trafficking on the wider population.

"A great deal of criminal offences are directly or indirectly related to drug trafficking - whether the trafficking itself, violence, persons under the influence of drugs or offences committed by addicts in order to fund their habits. All of that has terrible consequences, wrecks lives and destroys families.

"Most or all of you are capable men about whom much better things can be said. Many of you are family men with young children who will suffer from your absence.

"The responsibly for all of this is yours. You have chosen to involve yourselves in very serious crime knowing that severe consequences would follow should you be caught."