SAS: Who Dares Wins star Ant Middleton’s brother is jailed for more than three years after being caught with rucksack of cocaine he smuggled through Channel Tunnel in £700,000 drugs bust
- Michael Middleton was arrested in London after bringing cocaine in from France
- The 41-year-old was caught by police with 7kg of class A drug in a rucksack
- Arrest was part of £700,000 drug bust by the Met and National Crime Agency
The brother of celebrity SAS hardman Ant Middleton has been jailed following a £700,000 cocaine bust.
Michael Middleton, the older brother of SAS: Who Dares Wins star Ant, ferried 7kg of the Class A drug from France to Britain on the Eurotunnel.
However, the 41-year-old was caught red-handed when he drove into London and was arrested as he tried to hand over the rucksack filled with cocaine to another drug dealer.
Michael Middleton, pictured here with brother Ant who hosts Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins, was caught ferrying 7kg of cocaine across the channel and was arrested in London
Officers from the Met and National Crime Agency recovered £7,000 in cash from Hoxha’s car
Now Middleton, who is one of Ant’s three brothers, has been jailed for three years and five months.
Ant, 39, is said to have a close relationship with his brothers and in April this year they were left heartbroken when their mum Diana died of cancer.
Middleton, from Portsmouth – the Hampshire city where Ant grew up – was caught on March 12 this year following the £700,000 drugs handover.
He had travelled into the UK via the tunnel from Calais to Folkestone, Kent, and then drove to Heston, west London.
He got into the passenger seat of drug dealer Ervis Hoxha’s car to exchange the cocaine however officers from Metropolitan Police Service Organised Crime Partnership (OCP) swooped in and arrested them.
As well as the drugs, officers seized almost £7,000 in cash from 31-year-old Hoxha’s car.
When searching his home in Tooting, London, they found a further £1,500 in cash and additional evidence of his drug dealing activities including plastic wraps, a drug press, scales and a heat sealing machine.
The rucksack containing 7kg of cocaine which was seized by police officers earlier this year
Forensic examination of Hoxha and Middleton’s phones found that both were encrypted devices – which are commonly used to undertake criminal activity.
Both men admitted supplying class A drugs. Another man, who was in Middleton’s car on the night of the arrests, was fined after pleading guilty to possession of a class A drug.
On Tuesday at Isleworth Crown Court, London, Hoxha was jailed for three years and nine months and Middleton was jailed for three years and five months.
Detective Chief Inspector Tony O’Sullivan, from the OCP, which worked with the National Crime Agency, said: ‘Drugs, cash and violence are a vicious cycle that all go hand-in-hand.
Ant Middleton’s brother Michael Middleton (left) has been jailed alongside Ervis Hoxha after the pair were caught with 7kg of cocaine in a £700,000 drugs bust by the Met and NCA
‘The OCP is acting swiftly to arrest criminals and break the link between all the three factors.
‘The NCA and Met will continue to work together to stop organised criminals profiting on the supply of drugs, which in turn will help reduce violent crime across London and the UK.’
When they were young Ant and his brothers left Portsmouth and moved to the village of Saint-Lo, in northern France, before Ant moved to Essex.
He joined the forces at 16, completing the ‘Holy Trinity’ of elite units – the Paras, Royal Marines and Special Forces – and now hosts Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins.