Police and customs officers have dealt a major blow in the fight against drug dealers in south Essex after seizing heroin with a street value of £15 million.

They believe they have made a sizeable hole in plans to flood the area with drugs for the Christmas and millennium celebrations with the discovery of the two-ton haul.

The seizure, from a car at the Granada Services on the M25 at Thurrock, was one of the biggest ever made in Essex and followed a three-month Customs and Excise operation.

It represents about ten per cent of the annual amount of heroin seized nationally by investigators. A Customs and Excise source said: "It is a fantastic result.

"We have been working extremely hard tracking this consignment from the continent and all the hard work has paid off.

"This is a busy time of year for drug dealers who like to cash in on people celebrating Christmas and the new year. But this year, with the millennium celebrations, the street trade would have been greater than ever.

"This consignment could well have been bound for south Essex."

The joint operation yesterday saw the car park at the service area, just off the motorway at West Thurrock, sealed off as the Customs operation reached its conclusion.

It wasn't the first major haul of drugs at the service station. Two years ago Customs officers recovered heroin with a street value of almost £2 million. Three men were later jailed for importing the drug.

Five men were arrested yesterday and were today still being questioned. The men are in their 20s and 30s. Three are residents of the UK and two are Hungarian nationals.

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