A LORRY driver caught with over £300,000 of herbal cannabis hidden on his vehicle has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.

Vernon Osmond, 58, was arrested at Dover in July, 2005, after Customs found 151kg of the drug hidden in cereal boxes among his load.

The prosecution told a jury at Canterbury Crown Court there was a strong case that Osmond knew the drugs were there with his knowledge and compliance.

Jailing Osmond, of Mungo Way, Orpington, Judge Michael O’Sullivan said he had entered Dover from France with cannabis worth £385,318 on his load and was party to a planned importation.

Osmond’s lawyer, Simon Clarke, said Osmond had been happily married for many years and custody would have a profound effect on his family.

He would never drive trucks internationally again and bankruptcy was inevitable. He said Osmond was just a courier and there were plainly others working above him.

Osmond had driven through France to a Nestle distribution centre where 26 palletts of breakfast cereal were loaded at an automated centre.

He returned to the UK via Holland and the Crown said it was most likely the drugs were loaded on that diversion.