Eight in court after pounds 100m drugs seizure

Seven Englishmen and a Colombian yesterday appeared before a Dutch investigating judge after the seizure of pounds 100m worth of drugs.

Two more Britons - a man and a woman - and a Russian woman were facing further police questioning in the wake of the world's biggest drugs operation of its kind.

Those being held included Curtis Warren, 32, a businessman said to be a millionaire with homes at Albert Dock, a fashionable part of Liverpool, and in Hoylake in the Wirral.

Police are certain the massive drugs haul was destined for the North- west of Britain. It had been concealed in a container from Venezuela docked at Rotterdam and at several houses around the Netherlands.

A total of 11 people were arrested in the climax to the six-month operation, which involved Dutch police and a task force from UK customs and the north- west Regional Crime Squad. Police raided 20 addresses in the North-west, recovering cash and a firearm.