POLICE have released the custody image of a cleaner who used his business as a front to supply cannabis was found with more than 42 kilograms of the drug in a specially adapted van near Basingstoke.

Andrew King was handed a four-and-half-year prison sentence at Winchester Crown Court on Friday for being concerned in the supply of the Class B drug.

The court heard how police stopped King on Kingsclere Road on July 30 after they received intelligence.

Officers found 600 grams of cannabis resin and 42.5 kilograms of ‘skunk' cannabis, which had been vacuum packed to mask the smell. The cannabis had a street value of up to £428,000. He was also discovered with £29,600, some in a rucksack and the rest in the rear of the van.

Prosecuting, Siobhan Linsley said that the van had been modified to include compartments to hide the cannabis. King, of Bridge Way, Witton, Twickenham, also had “scented candles, fragrance pellets and spilled cleaning products, again to mask the odour”.

In mitigation, Sarah McIntyre said that after his previous release from prison King “tried to start turning his life around but he got back into using cannabis”, adding that he then “spirals out of control”.

Ms McIntyre insisted that there was "no evidence of him directing or organising” the drugs operation and that the modification of the van was carried out by someone else.