A 55-year-old man has been jailed for five years after police discovered a large quantity of cocaine in his car.
Peter Wiggins (pictured) from Wordsworth Crescent, Blacon, appeared at Stafford Crown Court on January 2, where he was sentenced to five years and five months in prison.
He had pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply class A drugs (cocaine) and possession of an offensive weapon.
The court heard that in November, Wiggins’ Vauxhall Astra was pulled over by Cheshire Police near Stafford Services on the M6.
He got out of the vehicle and was detained by officers, who informed him that his vehicle would be searched under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
Wiggins told them about a box in his boot. Inside were 15 individually wrapped kilogram blocks of cocaine. He was arrested at the scene on suspicion of possession with intent to supply class A drugs and was taken into custody.
Officers then searched Wiggins’ home, where they seized more than £500 in cash, two bags and a tub filled with white powder and a knuckle duster, for which he was later further arrested under suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon.
Following forensic examination of the substances found at the property and his car, it was estimated that Wiggins had been in possession of a sizable quantity of cocaine with a potential street value of up to £1.5 million.
He was later charged with possession with intent to supply class A drugs (cocaine) and possession of an offensive weapon and, due to the overwhelming amount of evidence against him, he was left with no choice but to plead guilty to the charges that faced him.
Detective sergeant Roy Wellings, of CID Proactive West, said: “Disrupting the supply of illegal drugs in and out of Cheshire remains a top priority for the Constabulary, day in, day out and anyone who is brazen enough to think that they can get in or out of our county undetected, is sadly mistaken and underestimates our abilities.
“Peter Wiggins travelled to an address in the West Midlands, where he remained for upwards of two hours, before returning to Cheshire with a boot full of cocaine wrapped up in kilogram blocks. Despite quite clearly being caught out, he still refused to admit any accountability until the very last minute, when he had no other choice.
“We take this kind of criminality very seriously here in Cheshire, so let this result be a warning to anyone who thinks they can get away with drug dealing in our county without any repercussions.”
