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A pilot whose high-flying drug smuggling operation was brought crashing down to earth by UK crimebusters, has been jailed for nine years. Anastasios Balian, 52, and accomplice Errol McCardo Weir, 49, used their light aircraft to smuggle cocaine worth millions to be sold on British streets.

But the pair admitted trying to bring 30kg of the Class A drug into the country after being stopped by Border Force officers on 20 March this year, at North Weald airfield in Epping, Essex, after landing from Belgium via Calais. Officers searched the small plane and discovered a concealment had been built into the rear seats. Inside it were 30 1kg blocks of cocaine with a street value of about £2.4m.

Weir, a photographer, of Shifford Path, Lewisham, south London, admitted smuggling the drugs in April when he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court.

In May Balian who runs a company conducting aerial surveys, also admitted the same count.

A WhatsApp chat was discovered between the offenders' phones. It contained a link to a news story with the headline 'Gang use small aircraft to drop Cocaine into Dorset'.

Balian, of Milton Court, Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, joked in another message that the gang must have watched the Tom Cruise film 'American Made', which is a plot based on light aircraft cocaine trafficking into the US.

On Monday Weir and Balian were jailed for seven years and nine years respectively.

NCA operations manager Paul Orchard said: "Anastasios Balian used his expertise and apparent legitimacy to enable this attempted importation of Class A drugs.

"These substances destroy lives.

"The organised crime groups that traffick them don't care about that, they only care about money. Balian and Weir were part of that crime group.

"Working with key partners such as Border Force, the NCA will continue to do all it can to fight the threat of Class A drugs."