Industrial scale drug operation found in Darlington storage

Police stopped a vehicle they thought looked suspicious and found the kidnap victim after the suspects fled the scene.

One of them was tracked down to his home in Sunderland before the investigation uncovered a network of suspects operating across the country.

Officers recovered a loaded 9mm Glock firearm before using mobile phone records to track down a number of storage units being used to hide an industrial scale pill making operation and more than two kilos of heroin.

In another container officers found three million Etizolam tablets, a Class C drug, which police valued being worth around £3m.

Sue Hirst, prosecuting, said a key linking Mohammed Rafiq to the multi-million-pound drug operation was recovered from a housing belonging to a co-accused who was tied up with the aborted kidnap attempt.

She said the complex investigation traced storage containers to the gang on the A66 just outside Darlington and at Portrack Lane in Stockton, in April 2021.

Rafiq came to the police’s attention when he told a member of staff at U Hold The Key that he had lost his key and wanted to gain access to the unit near Sadberge, which was rented out in his name.

“A member of staff was suspicious about the call,” said Ms Hirst.

After the container was opened Cleveland Police officers saw a large number of items linked to the production and distribution of drugs.”

The site was where the £3m pounds worth of Etizolam tablets were found, as well as bags of mixing agent and £59,343 worth of heroin were recovered.

Bags of pills discovered in the container in Darlington rented out by Mohammed Rafiq (Image: Cleveland Police)

CCTV analysis also traced Rafiq depositing £980 in cash into the account of his girlfriend at the post office on Yarm Road, Darlington.

One of the containers at the Portrack Lane site was empty barring traces of white powder on the floor but staff told police that the keyholder had moved items to a different unit.

A search of that one revealed a press for making tablets, bags containing tablets and a further bag 2.6kg of heroin.

Mohammed Rafiq (Image: Cleveland Police)

Mohammed Rafiq, formerly from Teesside but living in Manchester at the time of the raids, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply a Class A drug – heroin; conspiracy to produce a Class C drug; conspiracy to supply a Class C drug; and possession of criminal property.

Saleema Mahmood, mitigating, said there was no direct connection between her client and the storage of the heroin other than he had been in a van that had attended the site in Stockton.

She added: “It’s quite clear that when he engaged in this conduct, there were elements of his life which were unstable causing him to mix with those he wouldn’t usually mix with.”

Press and drugs found in Stockton lock-up (Image: Cleveland Police)

Judge Chris Smith sentenced Rafiq to eight years in prison for his role in the ‘industrial scale’ drug operation.

See more court stories from The Northern Echo by clicking here

• Pervert with more than 100,000 child sex abuse images walks free from court
• Drink driver, shoplifter, and drug user face justice at Newton Aycliffe court

• Robber, drug dealer and violent man faced justice in Crown Court

Get more from The Northern Echo with a digital subscription. Click here

“This case involves serious drug trafficking and those who involve themselves in the drugs trade frequently exploit the misery of addiction for their own end, for financial gain and that was clearly what was happening here,” he said.

“Police went to the house of a co-accused and that investigation led to the discovery of raw material and equipment capable of producing tablets on an industrial scale.

“It was being produced as part of the conspiracy that you were involved in.”

A proceeds of crime hearing against Rafiq and two of his co-accused will take place in December.