Police bust student house and Salford flat and £1m scheme comes crashing down

Over a million pounds worth of cannabis was recovered

A delivery driver who fell into debt before turning to crime under the guise of the ‘High Don’ has been jailed.

Xiaowu Chen, 56, was caught with a quarter of kilograms of cannabis in his flat in Beswick. He had been storing the drug on behalf of his boss, and also delivering drugs to other couriers, including Craig Tomlinson.

Both were sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on Thursday, March 13, for their parts in the million pound enterprise.

The operation came to light on September 12 last year, when another man was arrested at Preston train station. With him was a large suitcase containing vacuum-sealed bags of cannabis.

As a result, on November 12, traffic cops in Cumbia pulled over Tomlinson, 50, on the hard shoulder of the M6 in Carlisle, said Edmund Potts, prosecuting.

In the back of his white works van were two large boxes and a bag for life. A search revealed numerous vacuum sealed plastic bags of cannabis bush. In total 78 half kilo bags were recovered, with a street value of over £1 million.

That same day officers went to Chen’s address on Stadium Drive. Students were living there at the time but a search of the house and garage revealed further kilos of the drugs.

Officers then went to a flat on New Kings Head Yard, in Salford.

“A number of identity documents relating to Mr Chen were recovered. There was also a padlocked room, wherein there were 15 boxes of vacuum sealed bags of cannabis.

“There were 405 bags with a total weight of 180 kilos. Also recovered was £3,000 in cash and a further £6,000 in Scottish bank notes.”

Both men were arrested, with Chen telling officers that he transferred the drugs from one person to another and did not know of anyone involved, other than a man he called ‘High Don’.

He said he advertised himself as a delivery driver online, and began working for ‘High Don’ for six months at a rate of £100 per day, using his red Mercedes to deliver the drugs. He also said he owned the address on Stadium Drive, but rented rooms out to students.

Rachel White, mitigating, said Chen, a Chinese national, had been scammed out of ‘millions of pounds’ before getting involved. He had been working legitimately as a delivery driver for a while before he turned to drug couriering.

“Clearly there were those above him - he was on the front line,” she said.

Tomlinson said in a prepared statement that he was promised some money for a ‘driving job’ before heading to a location where he was met by a ‘Chinese man’ who loaded boxes into the van.

His barrister, Adam Lodge, said he was unable to work at the time and relied on benefits when he was offered the chance to get some money. He said Tomlinson was a full time carer for his severely autistic son.

“He no longer has the support of his wife and is unable to work because he provides full time care for his son who is not in school,” Mr Lodge said.

Jailing Chen, of Stadium Drive, for 43 months, Judge Timothy Smith said: “You were clearly a highly trusted individual. You had control over significant quantities of drugs.

“You were clearly aware of the scale of the operation.”

Citing the ‘considerable impact’ on his son, the judge handed Tomlinson, of Duchess Court, Motherwell, seven months in jail suspended for 12 months. “The key person who plays a central role in his life is you,” he added. He must also carry out 100 hours unpaid work.