Three men have been jailed for their roles in smuggling heroin worth £30 million - believed to be the biggest seizure ever by UK police.

The massive find, claimed to be enough to keep more than 8,000 addicts in their habit for a year, was discovered at the Maidstone services on the M20 in April 2008.

Three members of the smuggling gang have been jailed for a total of 55 years.

Harminder Chana, 32, from London was found guilty of conspiracy to supply heroin and was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Fellow gang member Atif Khan, 35, from Ilford pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin and was sentenced to 15.5 years in prison.

Abdul Matalib Shammin, 30, a businessman from Ilford was found guilty of conspiracy to supply heroin and sentenced to 23 years in prison.

A fourth member of the gang has already been sentenced at an earlier hearing.

Dutchman Patrick Kuster, 37, of no address, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply heroin, he was sentenced to 26 years in prison at Kingston Crown Court on September 4, 2009.

Detective Inspector Marion Ryan, from the Met's Central Task Force, said: "This is the biggest heroin seizure we know of by any UK police force.

"Today's result is testimony to how the Met has prevented the serious consequences this conspiracy could have had on people's lives. An average addict consumes 0.438 kilos of heroin in 12 months, so this seizure would be enough to keep more than 8,000 addicts in habit for a year.

"This gang had a flagrant disregard for law, blatantly transporting these dangerous drugs in the back of their cars. The Met will not tolerate the use and supply of class A drugs and we continue to tackle any organised criminal networks involved in this highly illegal activity."

The haul came after a long intelligence led operation into an east London organised criminal network involved in prolific large-scale heroin trafficking.

The £30 million imported consignment appeared to have been destined for at least three consortiums/individuals. The heroin was wrapped in half kilo and one kilo blocks and packed into thirteen cardboard boxes.

During a later police interview Kuster admitted even leaving the drug laden car parked in the roadside of a Calais B&B, whilst he got his head down for 'a good night's sleep'. Once in Folkestone, Kuster headed straight for his first buyer to do a multi-million pound deal.

On April 3, 2008, 32-year-old Harminder Chana, was seen driving a Seat Leon into the motorway services, near junction 8 of the M20. Waiting detectives saw Chana circling the services before parking next to Kuster's BMW.

Chana and Kuster both got out of their cars and shook hands. Kuster then transferred three boxes from his BMW into Chana's Seat Leon.

At this point police pounced and arrested both men.

A search of the cars and suspects, revealed that the three boxes transferred to Chana's Seat Leon, contained 50 kilos of heroin, worth an approximate street value of £5 million. The remaining 10 boxes in Kuster's BMW contained over 300 kilos of heroin. This has an estimated street value of £25 million.

Later that day, detectives arrested 35-year-old British born Atif Khan outside his home address in Brixham Gardens, Ilford. When arrested he was found in possession of a set of keys for a 'safe house' in York Close, Beckton.

A search of this address uncovered a blue bag containing white powder, later confirmed to be 20 kilos of Mannitol, commonly recognised as a cutting agent to bulk up cocaine. A set of electronic scales, a metal press, a counterfeit money discriminator, numerous mobile phones, latex gloves and written correspondence were also found at the address.