Simonas Moise, a delivery driver, was trying to get out of the UK through the Channel Tunnel on 6 June when his vehicle was stopped by security staff.

Police then searched the van, finding 90 bundles of cash hidden in a secret compartment.

Moise, 49, who has no fixed address, was then arrested and later said in a police interview he had been transporting money for a contact in Romania.

He said the money was not connected with criminal activity, but was later found guilty of money laundering at a trial in Canterbury, and put behind bars for three-and-a-half years.

Investigating officer, Detective Constable Gemma Simpson of Kent Police said: "Simonas Moise claimed to be an innocent middle-man with no knowledge of any wrongdoing but if that were true he would have had no need to go to such great lengths to hide the vast sums of cash he was attempting to smuggle out of the country.

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"He was in fact well aware the money had been earned through criminal means and was trying his best to exit the UK undetected.

"I am pleased the jury in his trial saw through his lies and that another offender who wrongly thought he could pull the wool over our eyes has been caught and sent to prison."

The money was forfeited under the Proceeds of Crime Act at an earlier court hearing, and will be given to agencies such as Kent Police under the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme.