Customs officers at Harwich found drugs with a street value of more than £4million in a hidden compartment in a truck containing a stock car, a court heard.

The six different drugs, which included cocaine, ecstasy, crystal meth and cannabis resin, were in six large holdalls concealed in a hatch behind a wooden tyre rack in the vehicle, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Before the court is lorry driver, Jan Van Roekel, 48, of Bergstraat, Ede, Netherlands who has denied six offences of being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on the importation of goods on May 19 this year.

Hugh Vass, prosecuting, said: "The prosecution case is that this defendant is a drug smuggler on a pretty massive scale."

The court heard that the drug haul included eight kilos of ketamine with a street value of £240,000, six kilos of crystal meth with a street value of £892,000, 25 kilos of ecstasy with a street value of £1 million, 23 kilos of cocaine with a street value of £1,920,000, six kilos of cannabis with a street value of £60,000.

Van Roekel said he had been paid 500 Euros to transport the stock car to Northampton Oval racetrack and had no knowledge of the drugs.

The trial continues.