Police swoop at M6's Tebay Services smashed multi-million pound drugs racket

A police swoop on England's best loved motorway services smashed a multi-million pound drugs operation. Stephen Buckley and Scott Chadwick-Greer, from Thornton-Cleveleys, were stopped in September last year at Tebay services on the M6 in Cumbria.

In the boot of their hired Kia Stonic were 17kgs of cocaine. Greer, 31, was arrested and Buckley, 39, ran off but was arrested a short time later.

Lancashire Constabulary's Serious and Organised Crime Unit launched Operation Black Forest following their arrests which found that they were part of an organised crime group responsible for collecting multi-kilo consignments of cocaine from ports in the south of England and transporting them into Lancashire and beyond.

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The investigation identified that Buckley and Chadwick-Greer were responsible for the distribution of at least 57 kilogrammes of cocaine across the UK between April and September 2023 with a value of over £4.5m.

They pleaded guilty in January at Preston Crown Court to conspiracy to supply class A drugs and on Monday (April 14), Buckley, of Lancaster Avenue, Thornton Cleveleys was jailed for nine years and ten months. Chadwick-Greer, of Oak Avenue, Thornton Cleveleys, was sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison.

Detective Chief Inspector James Edmonds said: "This is yet another example of Lancashire’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit’s relentless efforts to take drugs off our streets by combatting their supply. The activities of drug dealers can have such a negative effect on our communities.

"They can ruin lives, fuel other crime and can instil fear in our neighbourhoods. We will not tolerate the supply and selling of drugs