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A drug smuggler has been jailed for 17 years by Canterbury Crown Court after attempting to smuggle cocaine with a street value of over £3 million into the UK through the Port of Dover.

Mark Bunton, 52, from Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire was stopped by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers at Dover on June 14 last year. He was driving a Vauxhall Astra car when he arrived on the ferry at the Eastern Docks and claimed that he had been to France to look for a property.

Officers recovered about 32kg of cocaine and £6,000 from the rear quarter panels of Bunton's car.

Tom Hunnisett HMRC's Acting Head of Criminal Investigation for the South East said: "Revenue & Customs is working alongside the newly - formed UK Border Agency at the forefront of the fight to stop drugs entering the UK and to reduce the associated harm to our communities. We aim to protect society from this activity wherever we detect it and will not hesitate to pursue those involved so that they can be effectively prosecuted by the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office.

"The sentence handed down by the court should act as a deterrent to those involved in drug trafficking and clearly shows that crime doesn't pay," he said.