Alert customs officers at Dover have intercepted what they say is the biggest haul of face masks they have ever seized.
The stash was hidden inside a routine consignment of crack cocaine.
The face masks had a street value of £5million.
Officers at the port say that a 34-year-old Polish national attempted to enter the UK by driving a van through the Channel Tunnel. They became suspicious when the driver kept glancing at a box on the passenger seat.
Armed officers surrounded the van, arrested the man, and removed the box for a search, whereupon the masks were discovered buried in the narcotics.
Sid Bully, of Customs, said:
"This was a good morning's work. You can imagine what would have happened if these masks had got onto the street! It's amazing what people will try to do to make a profit from face masks."
