A lorry driver has been jailed for nine years for attempting to smuggling more than £688,000 worth of drugs into the country through Dover.

Craig Wardleworth, 41, of Brigsteer Close, Accrington, Lancashire, was caught at the Eastern Docks with seven kilos of cocaine with an estimated street value of £688,000 and a small quantity of amphetamine worth about £40.

Canterbury Crown Court heard that on Saturday May 17 a lorry carrying fork lift trucks and a pallet of hammers arrived at the docks on a ferry from Calais. During a search of the trailer, Border Agency officers found the cocaine hidden in a cardboard box on one of the fork lift trucks. The amphetamine, about four grammes, was found in the cab of the vehicle.