Four men involved in two separate plots to smuggle cocaine and heroin into the UK have been jailed for a total of 60 years.

Border Force officers at Dover's Eastern Docks seized around four kilos of heroin from a lorry driven by Ian Bayliss, 54, previously living in Liverpool but later of no fixed abode, in November 2011.

Bayliss had travelled from France and the drugs were concealed in an air tank on his vehicle.

A second seizure was made on April 3, 2014, from a lorry driven by Anthony Atkinson, 47, of Haig Avenue, Cadishead, Greater Manchester.

This time packages containing five kilos of heroin and two kilos of cocaine were found hidden in the vehicle’s exhaust system.

If cut and sold in the UK the drugs from both lorries would have had a street value of approximately £900,000.

Rob Jones, from the National Crime Agency’s Border Policing Command, said: “These four men were professional smugglers. They were involved in a conspiracy to bring large quantities of contraband into the UK in lorries that had been specially adapted for the purpose.

“Working with our Border Force colleagues we have prevented a significant amount of class A drugs reaching the UK and taken out a criminal network that was involved in their supply.”

Investigators from the National Crime Agency’s Border Policing Command identified that Dean Lennox, 45, of Northbank Gardens, Burnage, Manchester, operated as transport manager for both Atkinson and Bayliss.

Lennox had purchased a number of fire blankets used to wrap up the drugs and was in Dover at the time of the April 2012 seizure.

Phone evidence linked a fourth man, Carl Hogg, 51, of Tatton Street, Hulme, Manchester to the trio. Hogg had previously served time in prison for importing ecstasy and had been in contact with both Bayliss and Atkinson ahead of their trips abroad.

Financial investigations showed Atkinson and Bayliss had large cash deposits paid into their bank accounts prior to their arrests, and Atkinson had paid off lump sums of his mortgage.

All four men were charged with conspiring to import controlled drugs.

Bayliss, Lennox and Hogg went to trial first. On October 29, 2013 they were found guilty by a jury at Canterbury Crown Court. Lennox and Hogg were sentenced to 21 years in prison each, while Bayliss got nine years in jail.

Atkinson pleaded guilty to one conspiracy charge but denied another. Following a trial on Tuesday, June 23, 2015, he was cleared of the second count but on Friday (today) June 26, he was jailed for nine years for the April 2012 offence.

Paul Morgan, director of Border Force South East and Europe said: “Every year Border Force officers seize drugs worth hundreds of million of pounds, putting a serious dent in the profits of the international criminal networks involved in smuggling.

“Working with our colleagues at the NCA we are determined to stop drug traffickers. Those convicted of drug importation offences face considerable prison sentences.”