Dutch drug importer jailed for bringing cocaine into Harwich

Rolf Warnars had stashed the cocaine under clothes in his suitcase

A Dutch national caught with £3.2m worth of cocaine in his car boot has been jailed for ten-and-a-half years.

Rolf Warnars, 41, had been stopped at Harwich International Port, Essex, when Border Force made the find in November.

It discovered 42kg (92.5lb) of drugs had been stashed inside a suitcase in the Renault that Warnars was driving.

Warnars, of Den Helder, Netherlands, admitted importing Class A drugs and was jailed at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday.

The drugs were individually wrapped by the kilogram and each package was tagged with a "DIOR" label, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

Police estimated the drugs had a street value of £3.2m

Investigators analysed data held on Warnars' phone and found between June and November he had made four other trips via ferry to the UK from Hook of Holland.

On each occasion he would stay overnight in a hotel and returned to the Netherlands the following day, the court was told.

Evidence of exchange tokens - used to pay illicit cash - were also uncovered on the mobile device.

The cocaine was found when officers stopped Warnars on the UK border in Harwich, Essex

Paul Orchard, NCA operations manager, said: "Cocaine supply fuels violence in communities across the UK, with direct links to knife crime and the exploitation of children and vulnerable adults.

"Our investigation evidenced that this wasn't a one-off for Warnars, as he made several trips in the months before his arrest.

"The sentence handed down to him should serve as a stark warning to drug suppliers - you will be caught and put before the courts."