Treasure map led to gang's riches

Eight members of a family-run drugs cartel which sold cannabis and cocaine throughout East Anglia have been jailed.

The Wardens stashed drugs and thousands of pounds in trees and hedgerows on an isolated stretch of land named Crooked Bank near their home in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.

To the outsider Barry Warden and his wife Mavis seemed like any other poor, unemployed couple living modestly in their former council house.

But this was just a carefully nurtured image - a front for an illegal drugs business which netted hundreds of thousands of pounds over a decade.

Pickle barrells

Cambridge Crown Court heard how the Wardens sold cocaine and cannabis on a "massive scale" throughout Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk.

They imported and sold so many drugs that police believe they lost track of where they were hidden.

During their investigations officers found a crude map sketched out on the back of a shopping receipt, showing where drugs and cash were hidden near their house in Belt Drove.

HIDING PLACES What police found and where they found it In detail

Detective Chief Inspector George Collings, who led an 11-month investigation said: "This was effectively a treasure map. It contained key locations for where drugs and cash were stored over acres of countryside.

"You would know if you were getting close to a drugs' stash because markers such as rubber gloves would be strategically placed nearby with one finger that was blown up to point you in the right direction.

"This receipt also gave us some idea of the sums of money changing hands because there was also a list of IOUs written on it which ran into tens of thousands of pounds."

This name could not have been more apt as it was effectively a 'crooked bank' into and from which they made deposits and withdrawals Det Insp Collings

And during a 12-day search of land around the Warden home, police found a kilo of cocaine worth £62,000, 52 kilos of cannabis worth a further £200,000 and £63,000 in cash buried in four different spots.

Cannabis bars were stored in giant pickle barrels in the ground and cocaine was stuffed into socks hanging in trees and hedgerows.

Meanwhile cash in glass jars were stuffed into the ground known as Crooked Bank.

Det Insp Collings said: "This name could not have been more apt as it was effectively a 'crooked bank' into and from which they made deposits and withdrawals without arousing suspicion."

About 300 officers took part in the raids on Belt Drove in April 2004

The gang used a system of "dead-letter drops" and secret hideouts to pass on information to dealers.

"Quad bikes and trial bikes were regularly used to drive around surrounding fields.

"Riders were seen to carry and wear gloves and to deposit and recover packages from the surrounding areas," said Det Insp Collings.

Armed raid

Gang members would then place the narcotics in a sock or a Tesco bag and hang it from a tree for dealers to collect - leaving cash in their place.

And despite the bizarre storage and retrieval arrangements, the operation was so successful that Mrs Warden boasted that she had never run dry of cocaine in 10 years of supply.

Behind the humble exterior of the Wardens' home, the family had expensive jewellery, a billiard room and a giant TV which took six people to carry.

Family members were said to have spent more than £100,000 on holidays to the Caribbean and the Canary Islands and had two boats, two Range Rovers, two BMW M3 saloons worth £45,000 each and a £30,000 Audi TT.

A speedboat was among assets seized in the hamlet of Begdale

Mrs Warden and her husband also had 30 greyhounds worth £10,000.

Cash was also believed to have been laundered at dog racing events and used to buy land and property.

The Warden gang was ensnared by under-cover officers who spent £41,000 "buying" cannabis and cocaine after going on a holiday in Barbados with some of its members.

Under-cover

Two officers, known as Gary and Beth, travelled to the West Indies in June 2003 where they befriended the gang.

Between October 2003 and April 2004 the undercover investigators bought drugs on 13 separate occasions from the gang.

But the the Wardens' luck ran out in April 2004 when a force of some 300 police officers swooped in on the family home.

Instead of concluding yet another under-cover drugs deals, officers, accompanied by dog units, firearms experts and a helicopter, executed 32 search warrants and arrested the key players.

Twelve members of the Wardens gang all from the Wisbech area later admitted drugs offences at Cambridge Crown Court.