CASE against four men facing drugs charges in connection with the alleged seizure of heroin, cocaine, amphetamines and cannabis with an estimated street value of £20 million has been adjourned until later this month.

Gary Scott Fenton, aged 24, of Roseneath Road, Bolton; Paul Geraghty, aged 22, of Georgina Court, Morris Green, Bolton; Gregory Michael Rothwell, aged 34, of Ainsworth Road, Little Lever; and Ian Longworth, aged 44, of Bridge Street, Kearsley all appeared at Bolton Magistrates Court yesterday.

Each man faces four charges under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

The men were arrested in May after police discovered nearly 250kg of the Class A and B drugs in holdalls inside chemical drums in the back of a lorry stopped at Dover.

Officers swooped as the wagon came out of the Channel Tunnel and several homes in Little Lever were then raided as part of Operation Dispatch, a seven-month Police and Customs and Excise investigation.

The case was adjourned for a committal hearing at Bolton Magistrates Court on Friday August 16. All four men were remanded in custody.

No applications for bail were made.

A fifth man arrested in connection with the haul, Hayden Jeys, aged 30, of Second Avenue, Little Lever, pleaded guilty to the charges at a hearing at Bolton Magistrates Court last month.

He is due to be sentenced at Bolton Crown Court on a date yet to be arranged.