By . Alex Ward . PUBLISHED: . 13:49 EST, 19 August 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 15:21 EST, 19 August 2012 . Caught with £4.5m of drugs: Charlie Tomlinson has been jailed for 12 years after he was caught with the drugs in the roof of his lorry . A truck driver has been jailed for smuggling £4.5 million worth of drugs in his lorry carrying a shipment of pickled onions. Charlie Tomlinson, 31, was caught with 50lbs of heroin, 22lbs of cocaine and more than 23,000 ecstasy tablets at Dover docks when border officials found white powder in the roof of his lorry. The man from Chelmsford, Essex denied smuggling the ‘sophisticated concealment’ of drugs but was found guilty and sentenced to 12 years in jail on Friday. The Maidstone Crown Court heard how UK Border Agency officers at Dover’s Eastern Docks searched the lorry and trailer in August last year and found powder in the truck’s roof which tested positive for cocaine. The officers dismantled the truck’s inner roof, finding the drugs hidden between the roof and inner roof. Malcolm Bragg from the UK Border force said: ‘This was a sophisticated drugs concealment and shows the lengths criminals will go to in attempting to evade the UK's border controls. ‘The sentence handed down today should act as a warning to those who attempt to smuggle illegal drugs into this country.’ 'Sophisticated drug concealment': 50lbs of heroin, 22lbs of cocaine and more than 23,000 ecstasy tablets were seized from the truck carrying pickled onions . The heroin was valued as having a potential street price of up to £2.1 million, the cocaine was worth £1.7 million and the ecstasy £71,000. Mr Bragg said: ‘Drug use destroys not only the lives of individual users, but also their families and the wider community.’ Earlier this month, three Welsh men were jailed for three years and eight months each for attempting to import drug cutting agents through the docks. The agents, if mixed with with heroin or amphetamine, could have made an estimated £10 million on the streets. The docks at Dover see at least 2.3 million lorry movements every year. A warning to smugglers: The UK Border Force said Tomlinson's sentence should act as a warning for people trying to smuggle drugs into the UK .
Charlie Tomlinson was jailed for 12 years for smuggling £4.5m of illegal drugs .
The drugs were hidden in a truck carrying pickled onions at the Eastern Docks in Dover .
The UK Border Agency called it a 'sophisticated drugs concealment'
By . Alex Ward . PUBLISHED: . 13:49 EST, 19 August 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 15:21 EST, 19 August 2012 . Caught with £4.5m of drugs: Charlie Tomlinson has been jailed for 12 years after he was caught with the drugs in the roof of his lorry . A truck driver has been jailed for smuggling £4.5 million worth of drugs in his lorry carrying a shipment of pickled onions. Charlie Tomlinson, 31, was caught with 50lbs of heroin, 22lbs of cocaine and more than 23,000 ecstasy tablets at Dover docks when border officials found white powder in the roof of his lorry. The man from Chelmsford, Essex denied smuggling the ‘sophisticated concealment’ of drugs but was found guilty and sentenced to 12 years in jail on Friday. The Maidstone Crown Court heard how UK Border Agency officers at Dover’s Eastern Docks searched the lorry and trailer in August last year and found powder in the truck’s roof which tested positive for cocaine. The officers dismantled the truck’s inner roof, finding the drugs hidden between the roof and inner roof. Malcolm Bragg from the UK Border force said: ‘This was a sophisticated drugs concealment and shows the lengths criminals will go to in attempting to evade the UK's border controls. ‘The sentence handed down today should act as a warning to those who attempt to smuggle illegal drugs into this country.’ 'Sophisticated drug concealment': 50lbs of heroin, 22lbs of cocaine and more than 23,000 ecstasy tablets were seized from the truck carrying pickled onions . The heroin was valued as having a potential street price of up to £2.1 million, the cocaine was worth £1.7 million and the ecstasy £71,000. Mr Bragg said: ‘Drug use destroys not only the lives of individual users, but also their families and the wider community.’ Earlier this month, three Welsh men were jailed for three years and eight months each for attempting to import drug cutting agents through the docks. The agents, if mixed with with heroin or amphetamine, could have made an estimated £10 million on the streets. The docks at Dover see at least 2.3 million lorry movements every year. A warning to smugglers: The UK Border Force said Tomlinson's sentence should act as a warning for people trying to smuggle drugs into the UK .
Caught with £4.5m of drugs: Charlie Tomlinson has been jailed for 12 years after he was caught with denied smuggling the ‘sophisticated concealment’ Court heard how UK Border Agency officers at Dover’s Eastern Docks searched the lorry and seized from the truck carrying pickled onions .