Three drug dealers were snared when police intercepted a £400,000 parcel of cocaine addressed to a house in Norwich.

Border Force in Essex identified the package, which was heading to an address in Mile Cross.

Officers from Norfolk Police got involved, and the parcel was allowed to continue on its way - enabling officers to pounce and make arrests when it arrived.

Tyrone Ioannou, 30 and of Perrys Lane in Norwich and Thomas Lucas, 31 and of Back Lane in Norwich, appeared at Norwich Crown Court on Thursday 15 April.

They previously admitted conspiracy to supply a quantity of cocaine between Wednesday 5 February 2020 and Wednesday 12 February 2020.

Ioannou received a nine-year prison sentence and Lucas was jailed for six years.

A third man, Kenneth Baillie, 46 and of Cromwell Close in Hethersett, was jailed for four years and six months for importing a controlled drug.

The court heard officers from the Serious and Organised Crime department at Norfolk Constabulary were tracking the parcel.

The package was delivered to Baillie at the Mile Cross address at 10.05am on Wednesday, February 12 2020, who then delivered the package to Ioannou. From there, Ioannou delivered the package to Lucas.

On the same day at 6.10pm, officers forced entry to a property in Plumstead Road East and found Lucas in the bathroom attempting to flush white powder and packaging down the toilet.

Lucas, Ioannou and Baillie were all arrested and police enquiries established that Ioannou had arranged for the cocaine to be sent to the Mile Cross address and had instructed Baillie to deliver it to him.

Ioannou had then facilitated the meeting with Lucas.