independent Cornish news and comment

Kerrier: cornish drugs find

It was revealed yesterday that detectives had uncovered Cornwall’s largest-ever haul of Ecstacy at an abandoned tin mine.


The Ecstasy tablets valued at about £46,000 were found at a drugs ‘warehouse’ and distribution centre established at disused Wheal Busy mine near Truro.

In addition, police also unearthed a consignment of amphetamine pills worth in the region of £90,000 concealed in ammunition boxes.

The discovery was made after a member of the public informed the police of witnessing suspicious behaviour at the mine, situated in a remote part of Chacewater.

The man who masterminded the supply of drugs in Cornwall, Dylan Smith, aged 26, was sentenced to six years in prison for his part in the use and procurement of illicit drugs.

Significantly, detectives recounted the tale of how they crushed the drug dealing enterprise set up at the mine.

Following a tip-off, a couple of officers visited the mine where they saw Smith along with a woman accomplice. The two left the scene but were later caught. Moreover, the police discovered bags of drugs discarded in near by bushes.

Accordingly, the police initiated a thorough and meticulous search of the overgrown area replete with tunnels and drains. Before long police dog handlers and a team of officers exposed the largest amount of ecstasy ever seized in Cornwall along with amphetamines and £650 worth of cocaine.

The powdered amphetamine was also discovered in Ministry of Defence ammunition boxes. Significantly, forensic tests showed its purity to be 27 per cent. With most seizures of the drug displaying a 10 per cent purity, dealers could easily have maximized their profits by including anything from citric acid to icing sugar.

Remnants of drug taking activity abounded with wrapping, scales and scissors found as evidence.

However, special interest was reserved for the catch of 9,455 ecstasy tablets which had a striking love heart design etched onto it. Indeed, none of these tablets had been seized by the local police before! With ecstasy available on the market at £5 a pill, the consignment was valued at £46,000.

A strong evidential link has been established by locating a tablet from the same batch in a vehicle associated with Smith.

Even though police did not reveal the source of the drug confiscated at Wheal Busy, they suspect that the pills may have been produced at an illicit drugs factory somewhere in continental Europe prior to being smuggled into the UK by traffickers.

On Monday 20th September a Camborne drugs liaison officer, Detective Constable Lynda Manaton, stated that she thought that Smith was in the upper echelons of an organised drug distribution network. But she continued to say that: ‘it may well be that Dylan Smith was not the owner of the drugs. [Also] such a seizure will have a significant impact on the supply of drugs in mid and west Cornwall…I would like to think that this sentence would be a deterrent. But unfortunately in this business, if you are prepared to take the risk there is big money to be made.’