Drug haul suspects deny charge

The drugs have an estimated street value of £50m

Four men have denied trying to import one of the UK's largest ever drug hauls into Britain.

More than 800 kilograms of cocaine was seized by customs officers at a motorway services in the south of England on Friday.

The drugs, with an estimated value of £50m, were allegedly found hidden in a cargo of ground nuts in a lorry at the Winchester service station on the M3 in Hampshire.

Patrick Fitzgerald, 40, and Andrew Hunter, 35, of east London, Stuart Thornhill, 56, of Chaddleworth, Berkshire, and his brother Ian Thornhill, 52, of Bridgend, Wales, all denied one charge of importing a Class A drug.

All four appeared before Basingstoke magistrates on Monday and were remanded in custody to appear in court again on 19 May.