A criminal jailed for his role in one of the UK's largest ever cocaine operations has been found dead in a hotel room in Bradford.
The incident was first reported by ExaminerLive, who have identified the man as 46-year-old Michael Corish.
Corish was previously jailed in 2011 for 13 and a half years for helping to run a cocaine ring worth £4billion.
READ MORE: Landslide kills at least 36 as Brazil shaken by floods leaving hundreds homeless
The lucrative enterprise was run from an innocuous city centre telephone box and saw a Liverpool gang working with high-ranking London mobsters and international drug traffickers as they flooded the streets with 40 tonnes of cocaine from Columbia.
An intricate plan was developed, involving shipping the drugs over from Central America.
Venezuela was to be used as a casting off point for the shipments of narcotics, with the drugs stashed in tins of fish or wood pellets.
However, their operation was scuppered by the Serious Organised Crime Agency who caught wind of the plan just before the ship could set sail.
Had the drugs arrived successfully in the UK, it would have had a street value of some £4billion.
Corish, of Burghill Road, Liverpool, was thought to be happily married, but was found dead at the Holiday Inn Express, in Vicar Lane, Bradford, on June 10.
Daughter of man killed in brutal chicken attack thought bird was 'nice and docile'
Before his death, it is thought he was busy working as a foreman on a major building project close to the same street.
Jamie Churchill, a friend and colleague, said he had been employed on a scheme by Davis Construction Ltd, and described him as a "top bloke".
A spokeswoman for West Yorkshire Police declined to comment on the story.
A full inquest will be held at Bradford Coroner's Court in the coming months.
It comes as five Birmingham gangsters were arrested for flooding the region with crack cocaine earlier this month.
John Rahman, Jerome Grandison, Gurdev Singh and Holly Winders were locked up for a total of 30 years after a haul with a street value of more than £126,000 was found in a police raid at their Yardley base in east Birmingham.
They used a home kitchen to cook the drugs in a conspiracy run from Winders' home.
To get more stories from the Daily Star delivered straight to your inbox sign up to one of our free newsletters here.
READ NEXT:
- OnlyFans star tragically dies after 'darkness weighed down on her heart'
- Nicola Bulley: Map shows exact place body found in river compared to where mum vanished
- Mega 18-hour UK snow blitz brewing could bring '5cm per hour' one day next month
- Nicola Bulley: First words of passer-by who found body in search for missing mum
- UFO balloons over US could be start of new 'grey zone' Cold War, claims expert
Source: Read Full Article