TWO men were given lengthy sentences for their part in a £30 million heroin smuggling ring today (January 11), following one of the UK's largest-ever drugs hauls.

Abdul Matalib Shammin Rob, 30, of Cavendish Gardens in Ilford, was sentenced to 23 years in prison at Kingston Crown Court, after being found guilty of smuggling heroin on December 15.

Atif Khan, of Brixham Gardens, Ilford, was given 15 and a half years in prison, after he pleaded guilty of conspiracy to supply heroin on September 4 at the same court.

The men were arrested after police found 13 boxes containing nearly 730lb (330kg) of heroin in the back of a BMW at a motorway service station in Kent – enough to supply as many as 8,000 users.

Another man, 32-year-old Harminder Chana, of East Ham, was sentenced to 17 years for conspiracy to supply heroin. A fourth man, 37-year-old Dutch national Patrick Kuster, who owned the car in which the drugs were found, was given 26 years in prison at a hearing in September.

Detective Inspector Marion Ryan, from the Met's Central Task Force, said: "This is the biggest heroin seizure we know of by any UK police force. Today's result is testimony to how the Met has prevented the serious consequences this conspiracy could have had on people's lives.

“An average addict consumes 0.438 kilos of heroin in 12 months, so this seizure would be enough to keep more than 8,000 addicts in habit for a year.

"This gang had a flagrant disregard for law, blatantly transporting these dangerous drugs in the back of their cars. The Met will not tolerate the use and supply of class A drugs and we continue to tackle any organised criminal networks involved in this highly illegal activity."

Police revealed that, in April 2000, a Belgian court convicted Abdul Rob in his absence following an earlier multi-million pound drugs seizure.

He was ordered to serve six years in a Belgian jail, but fled the country before the sentence began.