The Neighbourhood Support Team (NST) discovered a cannabis factory in Eye last summer, which led them to a house in Orton Goldhay where drugs including cocaine, MDMA, magic mushrooms, ketamine and cannabis were found.

DNA swabs taken from the cannabis factory in Monks Drive, and a Volkswagen Touareg linked to the property led NST officers to 39-year-old Janis Varakalns.

On 12 August, the team located the vehicle parked up outside a house in Orton Goldhay but upon spotting officers, Varakalns tried to make a run for it.

He was detained and found to be in possession of a bag of magic mushrooms; a class A drug. Further class A drugs, including cocaine and MDMA, as well a class B drugs including cannabis and ketamine, valued at £100,830 were found inside the house.

Following a five-day trial at Huntingdon Law Courts last week, Varakalns, of Prince Street in Wisbech, was found guilty of producing cannabis, four counts of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs and five counts of being concerned in the supply of class B drugs.

He appeared at Peterborough Crown Court on Thursday (22 April) where he was sentenced to five-and-half-years in prison.

DC Helen Keighley said: “We found the house in Orton Goldhay with a sophisticated set up, purely being used to process, package and ship drugs being sold via the dark web.

“A substantial amount of harmful substances have been taken out of circulation and will now not end up on our streets.”