A Mercedes van driver was oblivious to the fact his load contained £23 million worth of cocaine when he was stopped at the Eurotunnel.

The part-time driver had unknowingly been used as a mule by a Dutch drug dealer, Bart Verschueren, when his vehicle was searched at the Coquelles border controls in France.

The driver’s paperwork said his consignment of dry ice was heading for Folkestone via the Eurotunnel with its final destination being St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington.

Verschueren, 40, who was living in Belgium, had tried to ensure the lorry would avoid checks during the first coronavirus lockdown, at the time the driver arrived at the border on May 5, 2020.

This was because the hospital was in no way connected with the dry ice shipment. Under the dry ice were blocks of cocaine.

Although the driver was arrested, he was later released without charge when it became clear he was an innocent dupe.

However, National Crime Agency (NCA) officers proved it was Verschueren who was behind at least one drugs run which contained 285kg of cocaine with a street value of around £22.8m.

Verschueren, of Sint-Katelijne-Waver, a municipality south of Antwerp, was convicted and jailed in Belgium for other drugs trafficking offences he committed in 2020 and 2021.

He was extradited to the UK in August 2024 and charged with smuggling the 285kg of cocaine.

He denied the offence but was convicted by a jury at Canterbury Crown Court in March.

During his trial, the jury heard the same vehicle Verschueren used for the failed smuggling attempt had successfully made it to the UK three times previously.

Prosecutors argued there must have been drugs smuggled on the previous occasions and Verschueren was therefore sentenced on the basis he trafficked at least 500kg of cocaine.

They say he organised the importations under the cover of a transportation company he owned.

It led to Verschueren being sentenced to 18 years in prison today at the same court.

Jailing Verschueren, who appeared over a prison video link with HMP Elmley, Judge Sarah Counsell explained she sentenced him on the basis that he had been involved in earlier cocaine-smuggling trips and not just the one on May 5, 2020, that led to his arrest.

These, she told the defendant, would have amounted to a total importation of "at least" 500kg of the high purity, class A drug.

Describing his role in the commercial-scale enterprise as "managerial or organisational", the judge added: "You used your transport business as a cover, you provided the means for smuggling the drugs across the border and you certainly had substantial influence over others in the chain.

"I have no doubt you anticipated significant financial reward."

NCA's operations manager, Peter Jones, said: “The NCA works at home and abroad to protect the public from the threat of Class A drugs which wreck lives and our communities.

“Bart Verschueren did everything possible to cheat justice. And he thought nothing of risking his driver’s freedom.

"When he knew his vehicle had been stopped, he reported his driver missing in a bid to distance himself from the importation.”