A MAN behind the wholesale distribution of drugs in the North West for two years used a Blackburn warehouse as an unloading depot, a court heard.
A supergrass is to tell Liverpool Crown Court that HGVs full of drugs were unloaded in the town after being imported, Raymond Wigglesworth QC, prosecuting, said.
Gerald Deaffern, 39, of Sunny Hill Close, Darwen, denies importing and distributing drugs and then laundering the proceeds.
Mr Wigglesworth said that the supergrass claimed he was first introduced to Deaffern in Amsterdam in 2000 by a man named Greg Rothwell.
He said Deaffern claimed he and another man were exporting one million ecstasy tablets from Holland to the UK.
The supergrass met him again in Amsterdam and Deaffern introduced him to a man called Peter McGuiness, the court heard.
Deaffern employed him to do two driving jobs - delivering £60-£70,000 to a man who owned a castle in Aberdeen and delivering 20,000 ecstasy tablets from Liverpool to a house in Nancy Street, Darwen, Mr Wigglesworth said.
Mr Wigglesworth said the supergrass had told police he would meet drug dealers who wanted their drugs supplying to the UK. Some were from Liverpool and some were from Manchester but now lived in Amsterdam. He added that they were "groupage" loads, with drugs brought back for more than one supplier, and were unloaded at a warehouse in Blackburn.
(Proceeding)
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