A man from Watford found with packets of heroin worth almost £500,000 stashed under the passenger seat of his van has been jailed for five years.

David Treacher, 32, from Kings Avenue, was stopped in his Volkswagen van on the M25 by officers from Hertfordshire Roads Policing Unit, the county's tactical team and the newly formed RAID (Rapid Action Intervention Disruption) team, at around 12.30am on Friday, May 15.

The stop check, carried out between junction 20 (Kings Langley) and 21 (M1), found a quantity of heroin weighing 4.87kg, with a street value estimated to be £487,000.

It had been hidden in packages inside a shopping bag under the front passenger seat.

After pleading guilty to charges of possession of heroin with intent to supply, on August 3, Treacher was jailed for five years at St Albans Crown Court on Monday.

PC Barry Townsend, from the RAID Team, said: “This result sends the message to those who deal and traffic drugs that you will be caught and dealt with severely in Hertfordshire.

“It is a really positive result which also shows some good collaboratively work between different units in then force.”