A VAN driver who attempted to smuggle £8m worth of liquid amphetamine in wine bottles has been jailed for five years.

Lee Dyer, 40, from St Helens was stopped by Border Force officers at the Channel Tunnel terminal in Coquelles, France last May and told them he had been in Belgium doing some plastering and collecting solar panels.

Officers found boxes containing more than 100 wine bottles in the back of Dyer's van said the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The substance inside the bottles appeared oily and later checks showed the liquid tested positive for amphetamine.

Dyer was arrested and checks on the van showed it had been hired in Warrington with Dyer supplying the hire company with a false address.

For previous trips he had also used hired vehicles, taking them abroad illegally.

Forensic tests on the 99 kilos of concentrated liquid amphetamine in the wine bottles found that there was enough to have produced almost three quarters of a tonne at street-level purity, with a potential likely street value of almost GBP8 million, added the NCA.

Last month, Dyer, of North Road, admitted importing controlling drugs and was today sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court.

Matthew Rivers from the NCA's Border Policing Command said: "The story Dyer told to explain his trips to the continent was a lie. Our investigation proved that in reality he was a professional courier who travelled to the Netherlands to source drugs.

"This was a huge quantity of amphetamine, enough to make many hundreds of thousands of street-level doses and fuel further criminal activity."

Paul Morgan, director of Border Force South East and Europe, said: "This seizure means a significant quantity of drugs failed to reach the streets and demonstrates Border Force's commitment to keeping them out of the UK.

"We work closely with law enforcement colleagues, including the NCA, to prevent drug trafficking and do all we can to put those responsible behind bars."