Hove man charged over £5m cannabis seizure (From The Argus)
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Hove man charged over £5m cannabis seizure
7:30pm Tuesday 12th March 2013 in News
A man has been charged with supplying drugs after police seized cannabis resin worth almost £5 million.
Officers made the 1.7-tonne discovery at a farm in Ashford, Kent, on Friday, when they stopped a lorry which was hauling a 40ft refrigerated container.
Inside the lorry investigators found two bright-blue metal boxes which contained cannabis resin with an estimated street value of £4.9 million.
The driver was arrested and two other men were later detained by officers from Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate.
Michael Malone, 46, of Rutland Road in Hove, has been charged with supplying cannabis resin, alongside 52-year-old Hugh Webb from Dagenham, Essex.
A third man, 39-year-old Martin Merritt, from Dagenham, faces the same charge, along with a charge of possessing an offensive weapon.
Detective Chief Inspector Eddie Fox said: “We have been successful in taking a staggering amount of illegal drugs off of the streets.
“This was a huge haul which will never make its way into circulation in the county.”
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