Four people have been charged over a haul of cannabis said to be worth nearly �2m.

Officers from the Nottingham and Derby branches of the National Crime Squad (NCS) raided premises in Stokeham, near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, and recovered around 700 kilograms of the drug.

The raid was part of Operation Fruitbat, launched to tackle drug trafficking from Spain into Yorkshire and the East Midlands.

An NCS spokesman said: "Officers found the drugs in a sophisticated hidden compartment during the operation last Thursday."

Street value

At a hearing on Saturday, magistrates in Mansfield remanded four men into custody, accused of being concerned in the supply of a Class B drug.

The charged men are Aitor Miguel Aranguren-Errazquin, 31, of Navarre, Spain; Rafael Segura Gomez, 37, of Seville, Spain; Anthony Sanders, 31, of Briery Walk, Munsborough, Rotherham and David Scott Herridge, 28, of Forge Row, New Farnley, Leeds.

They are all due to appear again at the same court on Thursday.

The spokesman said that the NCS had recovered drugs with a street value of �1.9m and had also frozen �91,320 in cash found at an address in Barnsley, using new legislation in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.