Detectives seize smuggled cannabis with a street value of £4m

The drugs - with an estimated street value of £4m - were hidden in a container which was delivered to a South Fylde industial estate on Wednesday.

Police arrested the driver and two men unloading the container.

Three other men were later held in Kikham and the last was arrested at Trafford Park Manchester.

The arrests were made as part of an investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA) working with Border Force officers.

The drugs were detected on vessel Wec Veermeer at the Port of Liverpool and the container kept under surveillance until it was collected three days later.

All seven men were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to import class B drugs.

Greg McKenna, Head of NCA Investigations for the north said: “This is a significant disruption of an organised crime network that has stopped the proceeds of crime funding further criminality that would damage communities and exploit the vulnerable.

“We take importations such as this very seriously, and these arrests show that we will detect criminal activity and arrest those responsible”

The group were released under investigation on Thursday 31 May.