A Dutch pilot who smuggled millions of pounds' of drugs in to Rochester Airport has been ordered to pay more than £400,000.

John Buwalda, 54, was jailed for 23 years in December 2016 after being caught smuggling 22kg of class A drugs, with a street value of £2.4 million, into the country.

He was arrested at the Holiday Inn next to the airfield where he met fellow smuggler Jan Polak.

But officers from the Organised Crime Partnership were watching Polak and arrested on his way to his car.

They then used a master key to get in to Buwalda's room and arrested him.

The National Crime Agency financial investigators discovered Buwalda was the joint owener of 16 properties in the Netherlands and owned two private aircrafts.

On Friday, September 21 he was ordered to hand over £422,268.81 based on the assessment of his assests.

The aircraft he had used to import drugs had been seized and his second plane was sold to pay for his legal fees.

Matt McMillan from the Organised Crime Partnership said: “Orders like this are a key tool in allowing us to pursue illegally-obtained assets and preventing convicted criminals from funding luxury lifestyles on their release.

“If Buwalda pays, he’ll get out of prison when he expected to. If not, he’ll stay in there for four more years and still have to settle this bill at the end.”