A lorry driver who claimed the concealed packages he was bringing into the UK were tobacco was in fact transporting more than a £1million worth of cocaine.

Arunas Cirplys, 53, from Kaunas, in Lithuania, has been handed a six year and nine months prison sentence following the snare at the Port of Dover on August 21.

He was driving a lorry load of beer from Germany into the UK when Border Force officers stopped his vehicle.

During a search, they found three packages of the Class A drug wrapped in socks, each weighing a kilogram, hidden beneath the mattress of the bunk compartment.

A further seven packages were found in the overhead locker. Together they weighed 10kg and would be worth approximately £1,010,000 if sold on the streets of the UK.

Cirplys admitted to NCA officers that he had hidden the packages but believed them to contain tobacco.

He told officers that they had been given to him in a parking area near the Dutch/Belgian border.

He pleaded guilty at a hearing on September 21 and was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday, October 2.

NCA Dover Branch Commander, Martin Grace said: “This individual thought he could transport illicit drugs into the UK under the pretence of delivering goods.

“Illegal drugs are the cause of crime, violence and discontent in communities.

“Through our work with partners, we are determined to disrupt those organised criminals behind the trade and make sure justice is served.”

Minister for Immigration Compliance and Courts, Chris Philip said: “This was superb work by Border Force officers, whose actions prevented a dangerous cargo of drugs from reaching the UK’s streets.

“Class A drugs like cocaine shatter communities and we will continue to work with law enforcement partners like the NCA to ensure smugglers face justice.”

Read more: All the latest news from Dover