A man from Leeds has been charged in connection with a plot to import 90 kilos of MDMA hidden inside a consignment of out-of-date frozen chicken which was found in Killingholme.
Border Force officers at Killingholme port discovered the powdered drugs, alongside a kilo of class B drug methoxetamine, amongst pallets of frozen chicken that had arrived on a lorry from the Netherlands on the morning of Friday, December 5.
They alerted the National Crime Agency (NCA), who began an investigation.
Later that evening NCA officers arrested Christopher Byron Still, 67, of Glen Grove, Morley, at his home address. Around £13,000 cash was also seized.
Investigators also executed search warrants at business premises in the Holbeck and Batley areas, recovering another 30 kilos of amphetamine, a class B drugs, from the Holbeck address.
The likely combined street value of the MDMA and amphetamine is estimated to be at least £4.5 million.
Still was charged with conspiring to import class A drugs, importing class B drugs, possession with intent to supply and possession of criminal property.
On Monday 8 December he appeared before Wakefield Magistrates where he was remanded in custody until his next court appearance at Leeds Crown Court on December 22.
The driver of the lorry, a 52-year-old Dutch national, has been bailed pending further enquiries.
The chicken, which had a 'use by' date of 2010, was impounded by environmental health officers and will now be destroyed.
National Crime Agency branch commander David Norris said: "Through close work with Border Force colleagues we have taken a substantial amount of class A and B drugs out of circulation and our investigation into this particular smuggling attempt continues.
"The organised criminal networks responsible for attempting to traffick drugs to the UK should know that we don't get tired - will continue to relentlessly pursue them and disrupt their activities."
