A heroin trafficker on the run has been jailed after being caught by a police officer in Chester.

Brian Storey has been jailed for 12 years and seven months, after he was found on the run from the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The 49-year-old from Liverpool had fled the UK after four co-conspirators were arrested for importing high-purity heroin.

Officers from the NCA discovered that the group had smuggled 18kg of heroin, worth £900,000 into the UK, and aspired to bring in as much as 90 kilos of the drug every week.

The investigation was part of the NCA-led Operation Venetic – the UK law enforcement response to the takedown of EncroChat, an encrypted communications platform used by criminals.

Investigators picked through thousands of messages sent by Storey and his cohorts, discovering the group was importing heroin from Spain and the Netherlands via mail courier services.

Heroin was delivered to rented offices for fake companies in Huntingdon, Northampton, Milton Keynes and Swindon, before being dispatched to contacts in Liverpool and North Wales.

Storey, using the handle "RichJay", was the group's conduit to the supplier in Spain.

He arranged delivery of heroin to the UK, including directing Stephen Hunt, 64 of Great Oxenden, to set up courier firm accounts and the false companies.

He also instructed Hunt where in the UK to deliver the drugs.

In May 2020, NCA officers, assisted by North Wales Police, arrested two of Storey's crime group – Tyrone Holbrook-Harris, 31, of Flintshire and Darren Barrett, 45, of Mold - in a pub car park in Mold.

The men were caught in possession of a parcel containing 9.45 kilos of heroin, worth £475,000.

The arrests caused alarm amongst the group, who subsequently sent EncroChat messages on the day, including one from an unknown individual who told the user "Syruproad": "That NCA don't f*ck about".

Syruproad was identified by the NCA as Dylan Sanger, 38, of Ellesmere Port. He and Hunt were arrested by the NCA in August and July 2020.

While the four arrested men were charged, the NCA continued working to find out the person behind the "RichJay" username.

By October 2021 they knew this was Storey and executed a warrant at his home in Fulwood Park, however Storey absconded moments before.

By the time his four associates had been jailed for more than 30 years in total in December 2021, Storey had travelled to southern Spain using a fraudulently obtained passport.

He was ultimately apprehended when he returned to the UK.

In September 2023, a Cheshire Police constable responding to a report of an assault in Chester city centre, spoke with Storey at the scene.

The officer identified that Storey was wanted by the NCA and immediately arrested the man.

Storey was subsequently charged with importing and supplying heroin on 24 September 2023.

He pleaded not guilty to the offences but on 23 July, just days into his trial at Caernarfon Crown Court, he changed his pleas.

NCA lead investigating officer, Luke Seldon, said: "Our investigation exposed that Storey was an essential component in the importation of almost a million pounds-worth of heroin.

"Storey was point-person for the supplier in Spain and managed logistics for movement of the heroin into and around the UK.

"More deaths are associated with heroin than any other drug, so the National Crime Agency prioritises identifying and arresting those responsible for making it available in the UK.

"We work extremely closely with police across the UK and world to ensure we hold organised criminals to account.

"In this case, justice caught up with Storey thanks to determined NCA investigators and a vigilant Cheshire Police officer."