Two Nottingham men who posed as key workers in order to transport and sell millions of pounds worth of cocaine during lockdown have been jailed. Stephen Lees, of Bilborough, and Matthew Whorlow, of Strelley, took part in an international operation, collecting drugs coming from Europe and distributing them around the UK in 2020, a court heard.
They ran the operation from a small flat in Bulwell, with Lees recruiting Whorlow, a highways worker, to provide cover when national Covid restrictions threatened to strangle his operation. Between March and June 2020 regional detectives established that the pair had supplied cocaine with a street value of more than £4.5million to organised criminal gangs in Nottinghamshire, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.
One day in May 2020 the pair were caught on CCTV wearing distinctive high visibility trousers as they drove in the van containing several sets of temporary traffic lights. They returned to Lees’ flat with a box and bag containing 20 kilograms of cocaine which were later sold on.
