Published: Friday, 9th January, 2009 5:30pm

Drugs hidden in sausages smuggled into Slough

by Chris Lawrence

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A DUTCH national allegedly used a lorry of frozen sausages to smuggle £45m of drugs into Slough, a court heard this week.

Olpeth Ververgaert is said to have hidden heroin, amphetamines and cannabis in crates filled with frankfurter-style sausages as part of an international smuggling racket.

Rotterdam police launched an investigation into the 50-year-old businessman in February after discovering more than £4m of skunk cannabis and heroin inside a crate destined for Slough.

Leeds Crown Court heard on Tuesday how Yorkshire Police had simultaneously been monitoring the movements of Mr Ververgaert as he picked up one of the crates at a depot close to the Skyways Hotel in Langley.

Officers followed the defendant to the London Road hotel where he met two men, Peter Smith and Matthew Gregoire, before staying the night.

The next morning he drove to the cold store and collected a pallet of frozen sausages.

When police stopped the van at a service station on the M1 they found more than £1.6m of amphetamines hidden beneath the sausages.

Police said the discoveries were "only the tip of the iceberg."

Alistair McDonald, prosecuting, told the jury that Mr Ververgaert had used his cold store company, ACR, as a cover to transport 51 pallets to the depot.

The business, which had been running for five months before Mr Ververgaert's arrest, allegedly smuggled an estimated £42m to £45m of drugs into the UK.

Mr McDonald said the businesses used premises in Rotterdam to hide the shrink-wrapped drugs at the centre of the sausage crates before shipping them to Slough.

The defendant admits conspiracy to illegally import cannabis but denies importing heroin and supplying amphetamines.

The trial is expected to last two to three weeks.