Drug dealers travelling in a Pink Ford Mustang were pulled over going 30mph on a motorway before police found a £250,000 stash.
Michael Smyth, Emily Philips and Robert Dalton were travelling with thousands of ecstasy tablets in the distinctive car when stopped on the M6 in Cheshire.
The car was spotted travelling at between 30 and 40mph and was said to be erratically moving between lanes without indicating, narrowly avoiding a number of collisions.
It was stopped near to Junction 18 in Holmes Chapel at about 1am on Thursday, October 21, 2021.
Phillips was arrested at the scene on suspicion of dangerous driving. Her passenger Robert Dalton was taken to Sandbach Services and released by officers, reports the Manchester Evening News.
But after police searched the Mustang and found ecstasy tablets valued at between £250,000 and £500,000 inside a bag, the pair were arrested on suspicion of drugs offences.
The DNA of another man, Michael Smyth, was on some of the drugs packages and more ecstasy worth up to £1,300 was found in the 29-year-old’s home when he was later arrested by officers.
Phillips, 33, of St Georges Road, Swanley, Kent, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of class A drugs and dangerous driving.
She was jailed for 14 years and four months at Chester Crown Court on Thursday, December 22.
Smyth, of Compton Road, Liverpool, and Dalton, 40, of Old Road West, Gravesend, Kent, both pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply class A drugs.
Smyth was jailed for seven-and-a-half years and Dalton was imprisoned for five years and 10 months at Chester Crown Court.
Pc Mark Jones, who oversaw the investigation at Crewe Proactive CID, said: "With the strength of the evidence we were able to gather against Emily Phillips, Michael Smyth and Robert Dalton, they had little choice other than to plead guilty to the class A drug dealing offences they were charged with.
"Their convictions and the significant custodial sentences they have been handed by Chester Crown Court are the results of great work by all the officers involved in the case, which shows the value of police stop checks.
"What started as a basic stop check resulted in the seizure of a substantial amount of class A drugs. On top of that, Phillips, Smyth and Dalton are all now behind bars facing the consequences of their actions.
