A criminal who was stopped on the M6 transporting £20 million of cocaine has been ordered to pay back his ill-gotten gains.
Jamie Simpson was found to have profited from his share of the drugs, which were seized on 2 August 2018, to the sum of £6 million.
The 32-year-old is currently serving 11 years and six months in prison for conspiracy to supply cocaine.
He was convicted as part of Operation Dreadnought, an investigation into two organised crime groups in Warrington who made, distributed and profited from the supply of drugs across the country.
Simpson was described as being at the highest level of his organised crime group.
He was jailed along with three of his associates for a total of 35 years in June 2019. They had all travelled back from Kent with 186kg of cocaine, worth a total of £20 million.
Officers discovered the drugs concealed beneath a false floor in a specially adapted van.
Detective Chief Inspector Giles Pierce, from the Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: “It is unheard of for a criminal to have such a large benefit figure but this is due to the fact that Simpson was involved in one of the largest in-land cocaine seizure in this country.
“More than £6 million of that cocaine belonged to Simpson and the remaining amount would have been purchased by other organised criminals.
“Simpson will always be in debt and owe the police the money until he has re-paid the full amount.
“In the future, once he is released from prison, the Proceeds of Crime Act gives us the power to take from him anything he buys that is of value.
“This means he will never live the lavish lifestyle he did when he was operating his criminal enterprise.”
David Keane, Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire, said: “The Proceeds of Crime Act ensures that money seized from criminals is put to good use keeping our communities safe.
“Criminal activity ruins lives and communities so I am committed to ensuring money seized from offending is reinvested back into our communities to discourage people from making the same mistakes.
“My Safer Communities Fund takes the money seized underneath the Proceeds of Crime Act in Cheshire and reinvests it back into local community groups via small grants so they can make their area a safer place to live.”
Simpson was ordered to pay back the benefit figure of £6,143,854 following a proceeds of crime hearing at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday 15 May.
