Two men caught in a yard with more than £8 million worth of drugs have been jailed for a total of 14 years.

Police swooped on Swale Automotive Services, known as SAS, on Brickmakers Industrial Estate in Sittingbourne on September 23 last year and seized just over a tonne of cannabis.

Thomas Cullen and Joseph Graham were in the process of packaging the herbal cannabis and cannabis resin ready to transport it to Liverpool.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that because of the size of the hired van being used it would have taken about five journeys to deliver the consignment.

Prosecutor Martin Yale said the shutters were down at a lock-up garage at the Castle Road

premises. Officers forced their way in with oxy acetylene cutters.

Cullen, 57, and 48-year-old Graham were caught red-handed inside.

Mr Yale said there were 10 wooden crates, three of which were open. There were also numerous vacuum sealed packages of herbal cannabis.

There were also 132,120 zopiclone tablets, a Class C drug normally prescribed for insomnia.

The van, hired in Warrington, by Cullen was capable of moving about a fifth of the drugs at a time.

“The intention was to deliver all this cannabis in five consignments to five different customers,” said Mr Yale.

Cullen had also placed an order for 100 carrier boxes - so many that he was sent away while the company obtained them.

The cannabis weighted a total of 1,022 kilos, just over a tonne with a value of up to £7.6m. The zopiclone was worth up to £396,860.

“These defendants are an integral part of the conspiracy occupying a significant role,” said Mr Yale.

Cullen, of St John’s Road, Huyton, Liverpool, and Graham, of Martock, Whiston, Prescot, Lancashire, admitted two offences of conspiracy to supply drugs.

Cullen was jailed for eight years and Graham for six years.

Cullen was sentenced to four years in June 2006 for conspiracy to supply £8m of drugs involving a “speed” factory in Huyton.

David Woods, defending, said the father-of-three had been industrious doing legitimate work, but fell on hard times.

He had been hired to take a consignment of drugs he thought was 140 kilos back to Liverpool. He was in the process of packing them up when police arrived.

“Much to the chagrin of the defendants it would have involved making a number of journeys to deliver all the drugs.

“I accept it was a significant role, He was no more really than a glorified courier. He was further away from those who purchased the drugs.

“He bitterly regrets his involvement in this matter, not because he was caught but because he has let his family down.

“In Merseyside, he is looked up to in the community. He is well known. He has been involved in local politics.

"He lives in one of the most depressed ares of the country, riven with crime.

“His children are disappointed in him. He was in debt. He was an easy man to recruit. He understands he must pay the consequences.”

Graham Shaw, for Graham, said his client was a working man who brought up his three children. He was battling to save his home from being repossessed.

“He found himself drowning in debt,” said Mr Shaw.

“He sat in a pub one night and was asked if he was serious about finding a way out. He was offered a job paying £2,500.”

Mr Shaw’s submission that Graham was a just a courier was not accepted by Judge Martin Joy, who said both men played significant roles in the operation of a “vast drugs warehouse”.

He added: “You were in a very high degree of trust and plainly you were in this for financial reasons and you were aware of the scale of the operation, not necessarily the precise amount but you were aware of the very large scale of this crime.

“It must have been obvious what a massive criminal operation this was.”

• A 38-year-old man from Sittingbourne has also been arrested in connection with the case and is on bail until March16.