A haul of cocaine worth £33m was found hidden in a shipment of onion rings due to enter the UK.

Border Force officers found 418kg of the Class A drugs when they stopped a lorry at the UK inbound zone in Coquelles, northern France on Thursday.

Piotr Perzenowski, 30, of Mazowieckie, Poland, was arrested and charged with smuggling Class A drugs.

He appeared at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court in Kent on Saturday morning and was remanded in custody to appear at Canterbury Crown Court on 13 December.

National Crime Agency branch commander Mark Howes said: “This was a really significant amount of drugs taken out of circulation.

“The seizure will deprive the organised crime group responsible for them of profit which would have fuelled more offending.

“Working with our partners such as Border Force we will continue to fight the Class A drugs threat in our mission to protect the public.”

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