Five Mexican men have appeared in court charged with drug offences after police uncovered a suspected methamphetamine laboratory hidden on remote farmland near Furnace End in Warwickshire. The men are accused of conspiracy to produce methamphetamine, a Class A drug, as part of an alleged crime group operating the secret production facility, highlighting concerns over organised international drug networks establishing operations in rural parts of the UK.

The defendants, all in their forties, were arrested on 13 August and remanded in custody at Coventry Magistrates' Court ahead of an appearance at Warwickshire Crown Court. They are named as Alejandro Ambriz Dimas, 45, from Michoacan, and Victora Ramirez, 47, Fausto Beltran, 33, Lioncio Moso Borja, 37, and Jose Nunez Angolo, 44, all from Culiacan in Sinaloa. Police released a photo showing a basement fitted with gas canisters, plastic tubs and containers linked by metal tubing; the National Crime Agency led the investigation, supported by Warwickshire Police, West Midlands Fire Service and West Midlands Ambulance Service.