Man jailed after police found haul of drugs, firearms and BIRDS

A man has been jailed after police found a £200,000 haul of drugs, firearms, chemicals and BIRDS at his massive property.

Zak Dearden, 36, was sentenced to 10 years at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court after pleading guilty to 13 counts including possession of guns, ammunition, possession of drugs, being concerned in drug supply and drug manufacture.

In July 2023, police attended Dearden's home address in  Rochdale, which was a large plot of land with several containers, buildings and outbuildings.

The search took a month with over 50 officers used to scour the search of the land and all buildings.

Dearden ran a pet shop with his father selling exotic birds. During the four-week search, officers found several hundred different animals including dogs, peacocks, parrots, mink, ferrets, ducks, Koi Carp and a bull.

At one count there were over 800 parrots in separate outbuildings.

During each search where there were parrots in the aviary, they had to be removed by an expert. They were left in the care of Dearden's father after the search.

Dearden was originally arrested, charged and remanded for a drugs offence but officers received intelligence that he had guns at his home address.

So a search of Deardan's home began and Operation Greyhound commenced on July 27, 2023.

Over the next four weeks, the search of the buildings resulted in drugs, firearms and chemicals being found, believed to be used in the manufacture, and production of drugs being seized.

A total of five guns with bullets and drugs including 10kg of amphetamines with a street value of £100,000, 99g of cannabis oil with a street value of £12,884, £57,000 worth of cannabis and £4,685 worth of cocaine were found.

Detective Sergeant Steven Gilliland said: 'This was a very challenging search and case. It took a month to fully search the site - it was the biggest search I have ever been involved in.

'I would like to thank our officers and partners who helped assist with this investigation – the hazardous chemicals that Dearden was using to produce the drugs had to be disposed of by chemical disposal experts.

'Words do not do justice to the scale of the land as well as the amount of buildings and state of the buildings which impacted on the search.

'Our investigation managed to uncover vast amounts of dangerous, drugs, weapons and various animals living in terrible conditions.

'For example, we found 10 dogs living in what can only be described as their own filth. Concerns were raised and the RSPCA attended.

'All the dogs were removed from the kennels and found alternative accommodation. I must thank the Dogs Trust at Denton for taking in two of the dogs and Leigh Dogs and Cats Home for taking in three.

'This operation has resulted in us removing threatening materials from getting onto the streets of Greater Manchester and today's sentence puts a dangerous offender behind bars.'

Dearden pleaded to 13 counts including being concerned in the production of amphetamines, possession with intent to supply amphetamines, the production of cannabis oil, possession of cocaine with intent to supply, possession of cannabis with intent to supply, possession of a prohibited smooth-bore gun, converting an imitation firearm into a firearm, three counts of possessing firearm when prohibited and three counts of possessing ammunition when prohibited.