An Inverness man is one of seven to have been charged in connection with the seizure of heroin with an estimated street value of £3.1 million.
Officers from the National Crime Agency found 44 kilos of the Class A drug hidden within industrial machinery imported from Pakistan on August 26 last year.
The machinery was unloaded at the port of Felixstowe, Suffolk, before being transported to industrial estates in Leicestershire and Birmingham.
Six men – Garry Campbell, 57, of Nethy Bridge, Inverness, Mark Regan, 43, of Burnaston Road, Hall Green, Andrew Lillis, 46, of High Beech, Coventry, Trevor Connor, 40, of Holmwood Road, Small Heath, Darren Clarke, 52, of Tamworth Road, Kingsbury and Skinder Ali aged 36, of Charminster Avenue, Yardley – have now been charged with conspiracy to import heroin.
A seventh man, Mark Asson, 53, of Tulip Walk, Chelmsley Wood, has been charged with assisting in an act of an organised crime group.
All seven men have been released on conditional bail and are due to appear at Birmingham Magistrates Court on August 13.
Inverness man charged in part of £3.1million international heroin bust