A man was arrested after police found £13k in cash and a kilo bar of cocaine on the backseat of his car.
When John Germaine, 33, of Holt Drive, Burscough, was arrested in Ashton-in-Makerfield, near Wigan, they found £13k in cash and a one kilo bar of 83% purity cocaine lying on the back seat of his white Ford Kuga. In the glovebox, officers found a further £4,880 in cash and 124 grams of cocaine.
OCP officers then raided a storage unit in Burscough which Germaine rented and discovered nine more kilos of cocaine and 6.4 kilos of cannabis. Germaine used the storage unit to prepare drugs for onwards supply.
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Between May 2019 and September 2021 there were deposits and outgoings from Germaine’s bank account totalling around £133,000. During the same period he paid just £730 tax from his job as a courier.
Germaine admitted possession with intent to supply Class A and B drugs and possession of criminal property at Liverpool Crown Court. Alongside him was Daniel Weaver, 35, of Cherry Lane, Anfield. He admitted possession with intent to supply Class A and B drugs and possession of criminal property at Liverpool Crown Court, and was jailed for nine years and two months.
Weaver was a passenger in the car when it was stopped and his fingerprints were on some of the cocaine packaging.
He was convicted by a jury of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs and acquiring/using criminal property. He was jailed for seven years.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Speight said: “Germaine was clearly an important link between street deals and larger consignments of drugs moving around the North West.
“He played a leading role in this conspiracy as he’d rented and operated a secure location where he could prepare his deals.”
The OCP is a specialist team of officers from the National Crime Agency and Merseyside Police. The unit was formed to help fight drugs and firearms crime across Merseyside.
