'Totally incompetent' Leigh drug courier jailed for transporting £600,000 cocaine cargo

A man has been jailed for more than four and a half years after he was stopped by police on the M6 with £600,000 of cocaine in his car.

Lee Green, 37, Leigh, was pulled over by police near to Junction 39 near Shap.

He was driving at excessive speed, overtaking, failing to move from lane three and having a defective rear light.

Green was couriering the cocaine haul in an attempt to reduce a £2,000 drug debt he amassed for his own substance use.

Carlisle Crown Court heard how he was "nervous and fidgety” when stopped by officers.

Lee Green had six 1kg packages of high-purity cocaine found in the boot of his vehicle, with a potential wholesale value of £250,000 and a street value of £600,000.

Green was arrested and initially told police he was heading to the North East with a view to buying a dog, before revealing his true intention under the direction of others.

When brought to court he admitted possessing the class A drug with intent to supply.

“There must be an element of him being a trusted courier with such a large consignment of drugs,” said prosecutor Gerard Rogerson.

Barrister, Jacob Dyer, said when defending Lee Green that he was "As a courier, he was totally incompetent”.

Judge Nicholas Barker said: “That [money] would have ended up in the organised crime world.

"That would have created more misery for those who take the drugs, such as yourself, and more misery for those that are caught up in that organised crime.”

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