Two men who were driving around with £1 million worth of cocaine stashed in foreign supermarket carrier bags have been jailed.
James Chrysostomou and Andrew Pritchard, both 48, tried to force a police car off the road and hurled mobile phones out of their car windows before they were stopped and arrested, Scotland Yard said.
They were caught in Dagenham, east London, in November 2013 in a car containing Dutch supermarket carrier bags stuffed with 6kg of cocaine.
Police said the stash was worth about £250,000 “wholesale” but would have sold for up to £1 million on the streets.
Chrysostomou, 48, of Woodcote Road, Leigh-on-Sea, was today sentenced to 16 years at Woolwich Crown Court.
Pritchard, from Blenheim Chase, Leigh-on-Sea, was sentenced to 15 years.
They were caught by detectives who had trailed Chrysostomou for six months after arresting an associate of his, John Middleton, in May 2013, with 500 grams of cocaine.
Middleton, 60, of Wulversford, Witham, was today jailed for two years and six months.
Detective Sergeant Nicola Hawkins, of the Organised Crime Command, said: "Pritchard and Chrysostomou were sophisticated criminals who sought to evade arrest and destroy evidence by trying to force a police car off the road and throwing mobile phones into the road.
"I am pleased that Pritchard and Chrysostomou in particular have been given substantial jail sentences. I hope these will dissuade others from believing that dealing in Class A drugs is a risk worth taking."
