Two men - who smuggled millions of pounds of cannabis into Dover hidden by pizza cheese - have gone away for a long stretch.

Dominic Leeman, 29, and Hendrik Ruben, 28, were part of a sophisticated scam, which may have netted the drugs bosses up to £90 million.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the gang made regular trips between warehouses in Holland and Slough, Berkshire.

Now Leeman and Ruben, who were convicted of two of the smuggling operations involving cannabis with a street value of £5m and being stopped at Dover Eastern Docks.

But Judge Stephen Thomas heard that the drugs team ran a "carousel" operation involving at least 38 trips until Border Force officers brought it to an end in 2016.

Prosecutor John Clifford told how cannabis of various strengths were smuggled into the UK from Holland hidden by the pizza cheese, toppings and salad.

Once the drugs were unloaded the same food would be driven back to Holland and the process repeated.

"This was a sophisticated operation to import cannabis on an industrial scale. This was run as a criminal business and you two played important roles..." - Judge Thomas

People in the UK would then place orders with the gang and then come and collect the cannabis.

When police raided the warehouse in Montrose Avenue in Slough they also discovered a BB gun, which the judge said was probably there for protection.

Ruben, who now works as a scaffolder, was jailed for six years and his "right-hand man" Dominic Leeman was sent to prison for five-and-a-half years.

Both had denied being part of the drugs conspiracy but were convicted by the jury. Two others were acquitted.

Judge Thomas told them: "This was a sophisticated operation to import cannabis on an industrial scale. This was run as a criminal business and you two played important roles."

Martin Grace, Branch Commander at the NCA, said: “This is a significant disruption of an organised crime network who were intent on bringing illegal drugs into the UK.

“The pair thought they could fool us by disguising cannabis in food shipments and giving fabricated stories to border officials. But we are ready and have tools in place to disrupt drug supply and distribution.

“The cannabis had a street value of more than £5million, which no doubt would have funded further criminality on our streets. We take all importations of illegal drugs seriously. Drug smugglers perpetuate serious violence which spreads throughout supply chains and puts innocent members of the public at risk.

“Today’s sentencing marks the end of a long investigation, in which we worked closely with Border Force officers. We will continue to work with Border Force to disrupt criminals and protect the UK from harm.”

Nick Drinkal, Director of Border Force South East and Europe, said: “Border Force’s seizures took a substantial quantity of cannabis off the streets and out of the hands of those who seek to profit from illegal drugs.

“Border Force will continue to work with our law enforcement partners, both at home and abroad, to tackle drug smuggling and put the criminals responsible for these crimes behind bars.”

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