Fake ambulance drugs trial: Delivery instructions for £38m of cocaine uncovered in Smethwick

Birmingham Crown Court was told the 'dealer lists' found in Holland and the Channel Tunnel were a 'direct correlation' to the 193kg of cocaine and 74kg of heroin found in the vehicle.

Dutch nationals Leonardus Bijlsma and Dennis Vogelaar are accused of being part of a drug smuggling operation which may have sneaked up to £1.6 billion of drugs into the UK using the ambulances.

Two other men, Olof Schoon, aged 38, and 51-year-old Richard Engelsbel were also arrested and have already admitted conspiracy to import class-A drugs.

The alleged scam was uncovered in Smethwick when officers followed one of the ambulances to a car park in Hill Street, Smethwick.

At the court yesterday, Paul Boniface, an officer with the National Crime Agency, said Holland was a major hub for drug trafficking across Europe.

He also said a selection of dealer lists were recovered by officers.

These lists set out in a special code the recipients of drugs, what type of drugs, the colour of packaging they were wrapped in and the codeword needed to receive the drugs.

He said the lists were found in the Channel Tunnel and the Netherlands.

One of the lists exactly corresponded to the drugs that were found in the ambulance in Smethwick when it was raided by police

Mr B said: "There is a direct correlation between the number of commodities (drugs) with the colour to exactly what was in the ambulance it was an exact match."

The only thing extra was MDMA powder. This could be explained as either a gift, a sweetener of extra sale, according to Mr Boniface.

The men were allegedly part of a massive criminal conspiracy to sneak enormous hauls of drugs into the UK.

Mr Boniface said: "The Netherlands is a warehousing hub for all types of drugs that have come into the country from different organised crime groups.

"These groups control the warehouses."

He told the court that drugs can arrive in the UK from the Netherlands by road networks or planes.

The jury was told how drugs importers 'exponentially' increase the value of their products by reducing the quality.

The National Crime Agency earlier produced evidence at the court that showed Dutch ambulances entered the UK 49 times in just over a year before the swoop by officers in June.

It was alleged they came to this country via Hull or Harwich and would normally return using the Channel Tunnel within 24 hours.

Prosecutor Robert Davies described it to the jury as an 'audacious operation'.

Bijlsma, 55, of Hoofddorp, and 28-year-old Vogelaar, of Vijfhuizen, both deny any wrong-doing.

In interview they told officers they had no knowledge of drug-smuggling operation, with Bijlsma stating he had travelled abroad to look at a car. Vogelaar claimed he believed his driving job to be genuine.

The trial continues.