£500k drug haul hidden alongside frozen chips
ADRUG dealer has been jailed after police found amphetamine and cannabis worth more than half a million pounds hidden alongside frozen chips, pizza and ready meals in freezers at his home.
Michael Mylott, 46, of Astley Close in Shaw pleaded guilty to possessing drugs with intent to supply and was jailed for three years.
Manchester’s Minshull Street crown court heard that officers were forced to call in a fleet of vans so they could move the huge freezers from his home and preserve the drugs as evidence.
One image of the haul released by police shows bags of drugs stashed among frozen chips, a pizza and a chicken curry with rice meal for one.
Officers working on Operation Challenger in Oldham – launched to target organised crime groups and drug dealing – received intelligence to suggest Mylott was dealing drugs from his home.
Det Sgt Richard Arthern said the scale of the seizure took officers by surprise. He said: “This was one of the largest amphetamine seizures in Greater Manchester and although we suspected activity at the address, we did not expect to find the drugs we did in the freezer next to Mylott’s oven chips.”
Police raided his house on January 31.
The court heard they discovered a total of 45 kilograms of methamphetamine and five kilograms of cannabis resin.
The drugs were hidden in freezers and cupboard draws.
Mylott, who wasn’t in at the time, was arrested a short time later in the Shaw area.
Det Sgt Arthern said the police operation would continue to target drug pushers and suppliers in Oldham.
He said: “All types of drugs can ruin lives and blight our communities where innocent people go about their daily lives. Our multi-agency operation infiltrates and disrupts the supply of drugs, dismantling organised crime groups which profit from residents’ misery.
“We will continue to root out people like Mylott and take drugs from off the streets of Greater Manchester.”
Anyone with information about drug-related crimes can contact police on 101 or call Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.