48 years in jail for gang of smugglers

A gang of smugglers who shipped pure cocaine with a street value of £300,000 into the country have been jailed for a total of more than 48 years.

Mastermind Paul Price, of Weeford, near Lichfield, was sentenced to 10 years and nine months after admitting to conspiring to bring 4.2kg of the drug into the UK.

Kitchen firm boss Richard Williams was jailed for five years for using his business Aldridge Interiors to laun-der more than £1million made from the operation.

The five-strong gang was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday.

The court heard that Price, aged 39, of Hungry Lane, was "deeply involved" in the operation.

Williams, 46, of Marshall Close, Aldridge, became embroiled in the network by associate Price.

He was convicted of two counts of concealing criminal property relating to money laundering in July after it emerged that £1million had passed through the shop in Portland Road.

He was also convicted at a separate trial for smuggling 2.2million counterfeit cigarettes.

Mr Adrian Maxwell, defending Price, said his motivation was to clear a £20,000 debt he had built up with a £100-a-day crack cocaine habit.