A huge multi-million pound stash of imported drugs was uncovered behind a Burnt Oak hairdressers yesterday.

The joint police operation conducted by the Middle Market Drugs Partnership (MMDP) seized almost five tons of cannabis with a potential street value of £19.5 million.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police, the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the City of London, arrested five men following the raid in The Broadway at about 4.30pm.

The suspects were seen unloading the boxes containing the 4.65 tons of herbal cannabis, with a wholesale value of £2.7 million, into the hairdressers and into a waiting van.

The raid is believed to have resulted in one of the largest seizures of cannabis in London.

A police spokesman said: “The operation has smashed a major criminal network involved in a substantial importation of cannabis into the UK.”

The five suspects, including a 29-year-old British man, three Somalian men aged 37, 26 and 38, and a British/Afghan man aged 35, have been taken to a north London police station as enquiries continue.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Weinberg, from MMDP said: “This operation is a huge success, with an enormous seizure of drugs.

“MMDP are dedicated to tackling these issues and we believe these arrests have severely damaged a network responsible for one of the largest such shipments of cannabis dealt with in London.”