A man caught driving to Liverpool at 120mph claimed he had no idea the parcels stashed in a Lidl bag were packed with £1m worth of cocaine.
Mark Hadi, 40, was stopped by Thames Valley Police on the M40 close to Bicester, Oxford, at around 11.30am on August 9 this year. Hadi, of Ashford Road, Eastbourne, told officers he was driving from the Sussex seaside town to Liverpool when he was pulled over for driving suspiciously.
A search of the car was conducted under section 23 of the Misuse of Drugs Act and 10kg of cocaine, with an approximate street value of £1m, was found inside a Lidl bag on the passenger footwell. Video footage released by Thames Valley Police showed the moment the officers, who were driving an unmarked car, arrested him on suspicion of possession with intent to supply class A drugs.
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Hadi, sat in the back of a police car, feigns surprise and asks officers "what was in them" before exclaiming "no" when he is told they are packed full of white powder. The full video released by the force shows an officer originally explaining the reasons why Hadi was pulled over.
The officer said: "You're driving a hire car, okay? You can't find me any form of hire agreement which I think is a little bit weird, however, not necessarily suspicious but a bit strange.
"You're going from Eastbourne to Liverpool – you said that is your only journey today. However, when I've asked you if you've done many miles you said no. Well actually you've been driving to Kent, London and stuff in the last 24 hours.
"I find that suspicious. You've got parcels in the front of the car which have got no addresses on. You have no idea what's inside them. You're not willing to allow me to have a look at them at all.
"You're saying on your phone you have details of what they actually are, but you've got no record or way of actually finding out who to give them to, okay? You're a little bit erratic in your behaviour, your driving's erratic.
"You were doing about 120 miles per hour, undertaking people. So that's the grounds as to why you're getting searched, okay? I'm not very happy with what is in the front of that car because you can't account for that. I appreciate you're just delivering but it's a long trip to deliver two parcels from Eastbourne to Liverpool without having a clue what's in it.
"The search is being recorded on body worn video and essentially what we're looking for is anything that may relate to drug supply or anything like that and that's what I suspect."
In response to the officer's explanations, Hadi simply replied "I hope not" and nervously laughed. However, when officers uncovered the blocks of white powder, Hadi was arrested and charged later the same day.
Hadi pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to supply a controlled drug of class A, namely cocaine. He was jailed for seven years, six months at Oxford Crown Court on Friday, September 8.
Investigating officer Detective Constable Beck Hurley-Brydon of the Serious Organised Crime Unit, said: "Hadi travelled into the Thames Valley with a significant quantity of class A drugs. Thanks to the due diligence of our roads policing officers and utilisation of police stop and search powers, we have been able to take a significant amount of drugs off the streets.
"I hope this sends a message to those that travel through the Thames Valley that our officers are relentless and will deal robustly with those bringing criminality into our area."
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