Drugs with a street value of more than £7 million have been seized at Dover.

It comes as UK Border Agency staff foiled three smuggling attempts at the port within the space of a week.

The latest seizure was made on Tuesday, when officers found around 500 kilos of cannabis resin, worth £1.25 million, hidden in a Slovakian-registered lorry at Dover’s Eastern Docks.

A second seizure of cannabis resin, this time of around 2,000 kilos and with an estimated street value of £6 million, was made the day before, when officers found the drugs hidden in a load of mixed goods in a Dutch-registered lorry.

Last Friday, 2kg of heroin, worth around £120,000, was discovered hidden in a British-registered car at the inward tourist controls.

The 45-year-old Portuguese driver of the Dutch lorry, Luis Antonio Lopes de Faria, appeared in Folkestone Magistrates today, where he pleaded not guilty and was remanded in custody.

A Danish man, Stig Neilson, of Stepney in London, appeared at Dover Magistrates Court on yesterday, and was remanded in custody for the attempted heroin importation.

Meanwhile, a 53-year-old Slovakian man has been bailed for further investigation into the the 500 kilos of cannabis.

Investigations by the UK Border Agency into all three cases are ongoing.