£200,000 of cocaine found hidden in lining of children’s books shipped to UK

Two hundred thousand pounds of cocaine and methamphetamine have been found hidden in children’s books and board games after it was shipped to Lincoln from Australia and New Zealand.

Lincolnshire Police officers became aware of the dealing in April 2020 after phone data from another investigation showed a link between suspected drug dealers.

Officers leading the investigation were able to use intelligence from border agencies, parcel tracking data, and some of the actual parcels being shipped through Royal Mail with the help of the organisation’s security team to establish that the drugs were brought into the UK by being concealed in the linings of books, or hidden in board games.

These were then packaged with extra games and books by the Lincoln-based suppliers, and the labels changed before they were boxed for shipping,

Nine people have now been jailed for their role in the international drug supply chain.