A RAMSBOTTOM man caught with high purity cocaine has been jailed alongside a gang who hid drugs inside tyres and fridge freezers.

John Myles, aged 22, of Square Street, was jailed for three years and four months following one of the biggest ever drugs seizures carried out by Titan, the North West’s regional organised crime unit.

The gang were caught moving cocaine to the West Yorkshire area. They also moved Ecstasy, amphetamine and cocaine to other organised criminals in Merseyside.

They were jailed for a combined total of 73 years at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday.

The gang, led by John McMahon and Phillip Dyer from Liverpool, were caught after Titan officers followed McMahon first to a flat in Garston then to a meeting in a café on October 2 with co-conspirator Colin Rafferty, from Huyton.

A large bag full of drugs was exchanged. Rafferty was then observed driving in his Ford Fiesta to 1st Class Tyres in Brickfields, Huyton, and carrying a holdall inside.

When Titan and Merseyside Police officers raided the business minutes later, they found Rafferty and another gang member, Paul Morris, stuffing large packages of drugs into the cavity between a tyre and a wheel rim.

Investigators concluded that the garage was being used to store and organise the onward distribution of Class A and B drugs. In total, 20,000 Ecstasy tablets, 1kg of cocaine and 4kg of amphetamine were found at 1st Class Tyres.

When they searched the flat in Garston, they found nearly 100kg of amphetamine and M-cat, worth an estimated £2 million, hidden in fridges and holdalls.

Myles was arrested after travelling to Liverpool from his Ramsbottom home to collect a packet of high purity cocaine in Vulcan Street, near the city centre. Police followed Myles and a female associate along the M62 and arrested them in Cheshire.

Myles tried to run away, leaving his girlfriend and the drugs in the car, but patrols caught him hiding in undergrowth nearby.

Detective Inspector David Keegan said: “Titan has thoroughly dismantled this organised crime group and stopped huge amounts of illegal drugs reaching the streets where they can do so much damage and harm.

"Through some carefully planned and professionally executed interventions, we succeeded in catching the gang in the act, meaning they faced overwhelming evidence against them.”

Head of Titan, Detective Chief Superintendent Chris Green, added: "These prison sentences should serve as a warning to others involved in, or thinking about becoming involved in. serious organised crime. There is no hiding place, we will catch you and you will go to prison for a long time."

The other men sentenced were:

• John Michael McMahon, aged 45, of Titchfield Street, Vauxhall, Liverpool - 13 years and four months

• Phillip Dyer, aged 53, of Reading Street, Kirkdale, Liverpool - 10 years and 10 months

• John Hinnigan, aged 53, of Christmas Street, Kirkdale, Liverpool - six years and eight months

• Brian Laughlin, aged 33, of Glenwood Drive, Irby, Wirral - four years

• Edward Francis McCabe, aged 37, of Linden Drive, Huyton - 12 years (plus another four months for unrelated drugs offences)

• Colin Rafferty, aged 29, of Hillside Avenue, Huyton - six years and eight months (plus another 21 months for unrelated drugs offences)

• Paul Morris, aged 30, of Longview Lane, Huyton - four years and eight months

• Michael Smith, aged 51, of Standhouse Lane, Ormskirk, Lancashire - 12 years