TWO Ross men have been sentenced to a total of 21 years and six months for their part in a drug smuggling gang.

Nigel Powell, 52, of Hom Green near Ross-on-Wye, was sentenced to 17 years in prison at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday for conspiracy to import and supply class A and class B drugs.

Stephen Jones, 54, of Broad Street, Ross-on-Wye was sentenced to four years and six months imprisonment for conspiracy to import and supply class B drugs.

They were two of ten men arrested as part of an investigation into a major conspiracy to import an estimated £60 million worth of illegal drugs into the UK, including cannabis, amphetamines and MDMA.

Seven men were charged, including Jones and Powell.

The police operation, which was launched in July 2013 and led by the Serious and Organised Crime Unit of Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police, saw a total of £13.5 million worth of drugs seized, including more than 1,000kg of cannabis, 107kg of MDMA and 64kg of amphetamines.

The drugs were imported into the UK from various locations in the Netherlands using legitimate hauliers who had no idea of the true nature of the loads they were carrying.

Once in the UK the drugs were taken to haulage yards in the West Mercia and Midlands area, where the parcels were separated and subsequently collected by organised crime groups from around the UK.

All of this activity was coordinated from a small office on a farm in the Kempsey area of Worcestershire.

Five other men were sentenced to a total of 88 years and 10 months on November 21- Robert Whitehouse, 68, Dusthouse Lane, Finstall, Bromsgrove; Robert Scott, 67, Broughton Hackett, Worcester; Richard Dale, 51, Maybrook Industrial Estate, Walsall; Peter Hillback, 42, Charles Close, Cheslyn Hay, Walsall and Jacobus Martinus Samson, 64, Beek Ubbergen, The Netherlands.