A barber who once admitted he had a hair allergy has been jailed for attempting to smuggle drugs worth £1 million into the UK in a shipment of bananas.

Salih Saruhan has been locked up alongside two other men for trying to bring in 10kg of cocaine via Sheerness docks.

The 32-year-old has been jailed along with Sean Bourke, 35, of Minster Road, Minster, and Irnti Rapai, 29, of Liddon Road, Bromley, for a combined total of 21 years.

All three pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court to fraudulent evasion of a prohibition by bringing into or taking out of the UK a controlled drug.

Saruhan, who was jailed for seven-and-a-half years, ran barber’s Brothers and Scissors, in Broadway, Sheerness.

His jail sentence marks a dramatic fall from grace. In 2018, he was nominated for Britain’s best wet shaver in the London and South East.

He also hit the headlines in 2012 when he declared he was allergic to hair and would suffer hay fever-like symptoms such as itchy eyes whenever he would serve a customer.

However, in February this year National Crime Agency (NCA) officers watched the three men leave the barber shop with extendable ladders.

They were tracked walking along the seafront to the Port of Sheerness, before Rapai took up a position as lookout near the shore.

Meanwhile Saruhan and Bourke climbed the port’s fence using the ladders and made their way to a number of refrigerated shipping containers which had arrived from Costa Rica earlier that day.

The pair then climbed a maintenance gantry and removed the hatch on one of the containers before fleeing.

However, Border Force officers were waiting for them and they were detained.

Saruhan was found to have bolts in his pocket, which were later matched to the container’s hatch.

NCA officers arrested Rapai in the car park of the nearby Tesco in Bridge Road.

Officers recovered individually wrapped blocks of cocaine from the container weighing a combined 10 kilograms with a street value of up to £1 million.

NCA senior investigating officer, Adam Berry, said: “This operation is a prime example of our ongoing work and commitment to ensure UK ports are impenetrable.

“Alongside our partners at Border Force and Peel Ports, we are determined to crack down on offenders attempting to exploit our borders.

“Had Saruhan, Bourke and Rapai been successful in their operation, the cocaine they smuggled in would have had a destructive impact on our communities.

“Drugs are closely linked to serious violence throughout the supply chain, as well as firearm and knife crime.

“The sentences passed down to them should serve as a stark warning to anyone attempting to import drugs onto UK soil.”

The men were sentenced on Monday, August 7.

Saruhan and Bourke were jailed for seven-and-a-half years, while Rapai was given a sentence of six years and seven months.

Border Force national operations director, Danny Hewitt, added: ”Thanks to the Border Force officers deployed at the Port of Sheerness, these despicable criminals were quickly detected and arrested for attempting to smuggle drugs into the UK.

“If you work, live nearby, or are travelling through one of our ports you can play a vital role, by being vigilant and reporting anything that doesn’t look right to an officer or the Coastal Crime Line.”