Gang jailed after drugs lab found in village near Thirsk
A gang has been jailed for more than 24 years after a drugs lab was found in a rural village.
The drug manufacturing lab, capable of producing more than £5 million worth of amphetamine, was discovered by police at a property in Husthwaite, near Thirsk, in April 2020.
On arrival, officers found two men in the process of manufacturing amphetamine oil. There were a significant amount of hazardous chemicals, noxious vapours coming from the property, laboratory equipment and £20,000 in cash.
Philip Lister and his brother-in-law, Ryan Beer, were arrested at the scene. Police searched the men's phones and found two other suspects; Stephen Henry Singleton from Merseyside and Jordan Russell Blackburn from West Yorkshire.
Singleton, the director of a chemical company, and Blackburn, the director of a cleaning solutions company, were found to be leading the operation - with Lister primarily producing the drugs.
Officers found 12 barrels of a pre-cursor chemical which, when converted to amphetamine, would have had a street value of over £5 million. The lab was capable of producing 523kg of street purity amphetamine.
A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said: "The range of chemicals within the lab presented a risk to the defendants health, those living close by and the officers who had to dismantle the operation and make the area safe."
Lister, 41, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce amphetamine and money laundering. He was jailed for four years and four months.
Singleton, 36; Blackburn, 34; and Beer, 30, were all found guilty of conspiracy to produce amphetamine.
Singleton was jailed for nine years and two months, Blackburn, of York Road in Leeds, was jailed for eight years and nine months, and Beer for two years and four months.
DC Borchardt said: "This was a significant criminal enterprise that was disrupted thanks to the suspicions of local people who were concerned about the constant activity at the property and the smell of chemicals emanating from the building."
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