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A lorry driver who tried to smuggle almost £700,000 of cocaine into the UK has been jailed for nine years.

Customs officials swooped on the driver, Craig John Wardleworth, 40, from Lancashire as he drove through Dover’s eastern docks in May, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

Hidden within a cargo of forklift trucks and pallets containing hammers, underneath a bag of kitty litter, was seven kilos of cocaine. Investigators also found a small bag containing amphetamines, valued at £40, in his cab.

Wardleworth, admitted cocaine and amphetamine importation charges.

The court heard that Wardleworth’s lorry initially arrived at Dover on a ferry from Calais on May 17.

Officials from the UK Border Agency stopped the vehicle and found the cocaine wrapped up in a series of bags inside one of the forklift trucks.

A bag of cat litter had been placed over the haul in an attempt to conceal the drugs.