A MAN from Radcliffe has admitted his part in helping to smuggle cannabis resin into the country.

Four men now face sentencing after being convicted of a drugs conspiracy which followed the seizure of a massive stock of cannabis resin.

Maidstone Crown Court was told that when police raided an industrial unit in South Darenth, near Dartford, Kent, they discovered 184 kilos of the drug, worth about £500,000.

James Chapman, aged 37, of Ringley Road, Radcliffe, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply drugs. Another man John Williams, aged 43, from Folkestone, also pleaded guilty.

Two other men from Kent, Martin Graham, aged 52, and Carlos Martinez, aged 39 denied the charge but were found guilty after a trial.

Richard Wormald, prosecuting, said Chapman ‘indicated a desire to assist the Crown’ and had been speaking to police during the trial.

The court was told that the four were arrested after the raid on the industrial unit, rented by Martinez, on February 13.

The lorry containing the drug consignment had been collected on the continent by Chapman. It should have gone to the north of England but diverted to the unit.

Graham was found sitting in a Land Rover Discovery car with Williams at the farm. Martinez arrived but when he saw police there he quickly left the scene. He later denied he had been there.

Mr Wormald told the court : “These defendants were concerned in the large-scale importation of cannabis resin. In all probability there were others in the picture and the organisation was bigger still.”