Three men (l to r) Benjamin Holt, Adam Vorster and Mohamoud Mahamoud were caught with blocks of cocaine with a street value of more than £10 million after police officers spotted them moving holdalls of the drugs in Erdington

£10m drugs bust on Birmingham street as police smash one of UK's biggest cocaine rings

by · Birmingham Live

One of Britain's "top end" cocaine networks has been smashed by police after officers seized drugs with a street value of more than £10 million in a Birmingham street. Three men were jailed for a total of almost 30 years over the bust, which happened in Erdington in April.

It came after officers from the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) spotted two men in Allman Road, at the junction of Holly Lane in Erdington, on Wednesday April 10. Adam Vorster, 41, of no fixed address, met Mohamoud Mahamoud, 29, of West Drayton in Greater London.

Mahamoud got out of a white Peugeot Partner van and spoke to Vorster, who was next to a silver Honda CRV. The 29-year-old grabbed a black holdall bag from the boot of the van ‘which looked heavy’. He then put it in the boot of the Honda.

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Benjamin Holt, 43, of Horam, East Sussex, was in the driver’s seat of the Honda at the time. ROCU officers arrested the three men and found 21kg of blocks of cocaine in the holdall, believed to have a street value of £2.1 million. They found five more bags in the van, which together contained another 81 kilograms of cocaine in blocks, worth a further £8.1 million

The wholesale value of the cocaine was said to be worth between £2.3 and £3.5 million But officers said the street value could have been up to £10.2 million.

One of the holdalls discovered in Allman Road, Erdington, stuffed with blocks of cocaine (Image: Staffordshire Police)

West Midlands ROCU includes staff from the Staffordshire, West Midlands, West Mercia and Warwickshire forces. A spokesman for the unit said: “The amount of drugs seized suggests the trio were involved in one of the top-end cocaine supplies operating across the UK. Now, through proactive action, this network has been significantly disrupted and a vast amount of class A drugs taken off the streets.”

All three men appeared at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday, November 1, and admitted conspiracy to supply a class A drug. Holt was jailed for 13 years and two months.

Some of the 102 kilograms of cocaine in blocks found in holdalls and bags in two vehicles in Allman Road in Erdington (Image: Staffordshire Police)

Vorster was put behind bars for nine years and three months. Mahamoud was jailed for seven years and six months. The WM ROCU spokesperson continued: “Activity like this is continuing each and every day across Staffordshire and neighbouring forces to target organised criminals who commit high-harm offences in our communities, including county lines drug distribution, illegal firearms activity, modern slavery, and cyber-crime.”