A Slovakian national who tried to bring more than £5 million (US$ 6.3 million) worth of cocaine and heroin into the United Kingdom has received 11 years in prison.

Pavol Cizmar was sentenced on Friday in the northern English town of Grimsby. The 45-year-old was caught when the truck he was driving was interceptedcoming off a ferry from the Netherlands. Officers found 45 packages wrapped in brown tape, weighing a kilogram each, hidden among rolls of paper inside the truck. Apart from the suspicious packages, officers also found a stun gun and tear gas.

Cizmar denied any knowledge of the drugs, claiming to police that the packages must have been dropped through the roof instead.

“Cizmar attempted to paint a picture of himself as a legitimate truck driver," said Mick Moloney, an official with the National Crime Agency's Border Policing Command.

“But in reality he was a professional drugs courier working for an organised criminal network."

(photo: bbc.com)

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