UPDATE: How kingpin Uddin operated his huge Class A drugs empire

THE kingpin of a multi-million pound cocaine racket has been jailed for a total of 16 years after police smashed one of the largest organised crime groups in the country.

Khalad Uddin, who stashed almost half a million pounds in cash at an Oxford penthouse, was put behind bars for his 'key role' as the middle man between Albanian gangsters and drug dealers across England.

The 35-year-old of Little Brewery Street, St Clements, Oxford, brokered large deals of cocaine between European importers and customers in London, the West Midlands, South West of England and Oxfordshire.

Uddin, branded the 'spider in the centre of the web', used his criminal cash to rent a 3,000-a-month penthouse in North Oxford and lease high-performance Lamborghinis.

When police officers raided his Scholars Mews apartment in Summertown on October 19 last year, they found about £460,000 in cash bundles, 70 pairs of designer jeans valued each between £500 to £700 and high-value jewellery.

Detectives also seized a 10-tonne hydraulic press used in the production of drugs belonging to Uddin, recovered 40 mobile phones and anti-surveillance equipment.

They also recovered a jacket with a ballistic vest.

Throughout the whole of the case, named Operation Stingray, Thames Valley Police seized more than 10 kilos of cocaine and also found Uddin had arranged the purchase of two handguns, which were found in a shoebox in a VW people carrier.

Uddin was sentenced to 16 years behind bars at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday, after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply cocaine and one count of money laundering.

The sentence will run concurrently to a 14-year sentence handed out to Uddin earlier this month for his involvement in a conspiracy to transfer firearms and ammunition.

READ THE FULL UPDATE HERE