A CRAVEN police officer has told of the moment when he and his colleagues found drugs, worth at least £1 million, in a caravan at Bentham.

Local officers, along with their counterparts from Lancashire, were carrying out a search warrant at a static caravan at the Goodenber site.

It was the biggest haul of Class A drugs ever recorded in Craven and possibly the biggest in North Yorkshire.

The caravan was being rented by drugs baron Andrew Shacklady, who was wanted for questioning about the murder of Paul Fields who was shot dead in Skelmersdale in August 2002.

As the Herald reported earlier this month, Shacklady was jailed for life by Manchester Crown Court for a variety of offences.

Talking about the involvement of Craven officers, Chief Insp Tad Nowakowski said the raid in Bentham took place in September 2003.

"We were looking for evidence relating to the murder, but to our great surprise, we found two holdalls containing several kilos of heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine," he explained. "We knew immediately that it was a very substantial find."

In all there were three kilos of heroin, 12 kilos of cocaine and crack cocaine with a wholesale value of £1 million. But police say if the drugs had been divided into individual wraps, they could have been worth five times that amount.

"It was a significant seizure, particularly when you consider some of the drugs could have been destined for the streets of Craven," said Chief Insp Nowakowski.

Shacklady received a life sentence for the murder of Paul Fields and was ordered to serve a further 20-year jail sentence for possessing drugs in Bentham, with intent to supply.

Afterwards, the man in charge of the operation, Detective Chief Inspector Kevin Toole, described Shacklady as a ruthless and resourceful gangster.

"He was, in my view, the most dangerous drug dealer in the county," he added.