A Maidstone dental technician was found with £1 million worth of drugs stashed in two Bag for Life containers at his work premises.

Andrew Mackie, 53, was arrested after drugs squad officers swooped on the premises of Precision Chrome Castings in Kiln Bridge Works in Lower Road, East Farleigh.

Maidstone Crown Court also heard how police found gloves and scales with the sealed haul, a further £5,000 in a filing cabinet and another £2,000 in his car.

They had gone to the premises and asked him if there were any drugs there and he had directed them to a cupboard where they found three sealed parcels and six grip-seal plastic bags containing 5.34 kilos of cocaine.

Today, Mackie, of Lancet Lane, was jailed for eight years and four months following a spectacular fall from grace after he began "hob-nobbing" with dealers who supplied his need for cocaine.

His barrister David Burgess told Judge Philip Statman: "In August last year events resulted in the shattering of a number of lives... the lives of his children, his ex-wife and his fiancée, with whom he was going to get married a week after his arrest."

He added that Mackie's friends were in "complete bewilderment" to discover he was involved in drugs.

Craig Evans, prosecuting, said the phone found in the premises - which had Mackie's DNA on the sim card - can only be bought online and shipped to the UK.

He said it did not work on phone networks used in the UK and could only be accessed using a password which was almost impossible to crack.

Judge Statman commended the drugs team for their work and told them he had "considerable concern" over the use of the phones in "the furtherance of grave crimes which afford crime gangs total anonymity".

The cocaine had originally been given an estimated value of £500,000 but with a purity of up to 99% police have given it a worth a £1 million.

It had been stored in the bags at the premises - but the prosecution said they did not believe Mackie was using his dental business as a cover for drug dealing.

But the judge said the fact the cocaine was between 86 to 99% showed that Mackie was "near the top" in the crime gang - while accepting there were others "above you in the chain".

In jailing Mackie, who admitted being concerned in the supply of the Class A drug, told him that cocaine was "pernicious" offering users "a short-term high" and giving dealers "vast profits" when they distributed the drugs.

"You made a very bad decision when you became involved in a highly sophisticated operation and you played a significant role... although I accept you were not the prime mover."

He now faces an investigation by police about his assets and the Crown Prosecution Service will make an application under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Kent Police’s District Commander for Maidstone, Chief Inspector Ray Quiller said: "The quantity of cocaine discovered at this business would suggest an organised crime gang was involved in its distribution.

"I have no doubt the drugs, which were of a high purity, would have been mixed with other substances to increase the quantity for sale on the streets.

"Mackie and his criminal associates were making a considerable profit while bringing misery to the streets of Kent, and a lengthy prison sentence is entirely appropriate."

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