A Belgian man has been jailed for attempting to smuggle cocaine with an estimated street value of £250,000 into the UK through Dover.

Ali Kherchachi, 30, has been sent to prison for eight and a half years. The amount of cocaine was 6.5 kilos.

On April 8 officers at the Eastern Docks intercepted a Belgian-registered box-type van.

When questioned Kherchachi said he had furniture in his load.

Officers searched the vehicle and found a stereo speaker which contained nine brown tape wrapped packages and four further packages, two in a video recorder and two within a biscuit tin.