by Keith Hunt

A drugs boss faces selling his £1 million Maidstone home to pay a confiscation order of almost £628,000.

Melvyn Jestin was given six months to raise the cash but his lawyer said the sale of Lested Lodge in Plough Wents Road, Chart Sutton, would depend on the property market.

The 67-year-old was jailed for five-and-a-half years in March 2009 for a drug smuggling conspiracy and acquiring criminal property.

He and others were arrested after police seized more than 100 kilos of cannabis at an industrial unit in South Darenth, near Dartford.

One man was caught paying Jestin £124,000 for drugs.

Judge Martin Joy said he had proceeded on the basis that Jestin had a controlling interest in the entirety of the drugs.

Jonathan Lennon, defending, said this week Jestin had owned a "significant property" just outside Maidstone for over 40 years valued in the region of £1 million.

Judge Joy ruled Jestin had benefited to the value of all of the drugs, which included strong skunk cannabis.

He imposed three years imprisonment in default of the amount being paid.