THE leader of a £14m drug smuggling ring who went on the run for more than a year has become the first Briton to be extradited from the Philippines.

John Halliday, 33, of Harrogate, has been transferred to prison to serve a ten-year sentence, after detectives tracked him down in Manila last month.

He fled the UK before he was due to stand trial over smuggling synthetic class B drugs from China and India and was sentenced in his absence in December 2013.

Det Insp Neil Hollis said: "This extradition should demonstrate that we will do everything in our power to ensure that convicted criminals serve their time no matter where they flee to."