Racing chief charged over 6m pounds drugs

A LEADING figure in the British saloon car racing world was last night charged with drug smuggling following the seizure of pounds 6m worth of cocaine hidden in a trailer vehicle.

Victor Lee, 39, whose three- man team holds the British Touring Championship, was one of three men charged. A woman was also charged. They will appear before magistrates in Sittingbourne, Kent, today.

Mr Lee was detained in Gravesend during a series of raids early yesterday at the culmination of a six-month-long Customs investigation codenamed Operation Bounce. Last night, four other people were released on police bail and three others were freed after being eliminated from inquiries.

The 40kg (88lb) of cocaine was seized last week by Customs officers at Sheerness, Kent, who stopped the Lee team vehicles as they returned on a ferry from Flushing in the Netherlands after a training visit to the Zandvoort circuit. The drug was hidden in gas bottles.