An international drugs gang has been jailed for 43 years for smuggling cannabis worth £3 million from Spain to Bradford in a lorry with a false floor.

Martin Jolliff, 47, of Carr Street, Cleckheaton, and 62-year-old Harold Rawson, of Wyke, Bradford, were the “principal organisers” of the English side of the operation, a judge told Leeds Crown Court yesterday.

They bought huge amounts of cannabis resin, which was driven and ferried from Spain to Stanton Works haulage yard in Cleckheaton four times between April and June, 2009.

Sentencing Jolliff and Rawson to a total of 22 years, Judge Rodney Grant said: “The conspiracy involved lasted over a considerable period of time. A vast amount of cannabis was imported into the country.”

Their criminal enterprise came to an end when police raided Stanton Works, in Heaton Street, Cleckheaton, on June 30 and found the lorry and 500kg of cannabis resin worth over £2m.

They arrested Jolliff and Rawson, as well as Damion Lister, 36, of St Peg Close, Cleckheaton, who has a house in Algeciras, Spain.

Lister had organised the shipping of the cannabis resin from Spain with Lee Scarse, from Wiltshire, but who also lives in Spain. Scarse, 48, was also arrested at Stanton Works.

Flight records and CCTV images showed Lister and Scarse had jetted in and out of the UK at times when the lorry was being unloaded.

The haulage yard swoop came just months after 210kg of cannabis resin, worth nearly £1m had been collected from the Hunsworth Arms pub car park, near Chain Bar roundabout, Cleckheaton on April 10.

Police saw Jolliff loading something from his own van into another van belonging to another man, William Thompson.

Thompson then headed off to the North East, followed by Paul Michael Rowntree, 30, and Andrew Purcell, 29, both of Wakefield.

West Yorkshire Police’s Crime Division officers discovered the cannabis when they stopped the convoy on the A1 near Scotch Corner.

Purcell and Rowntree, who acted as intermediaries between Jolliff and Rawson and William Thompson and couriers for the drugs, were arrested at the scene.

Judge Grant yesterday sentenced Jolliff and Rawson to 11 years each behind bars and Lister to ten years for their part in the major conspiracy to import drugs.

The judge told Jolliff: “You were involved in a conspiracy in more than a subordinate role. It seems to me that you are one of the principal organisers.

“You represented, along with Rawson, the English end of what was happening.

“The conspiracy involved lasted over a considerable period of time. A vast amount of cannabis was imported into the country.”

Rowntree, who ensured the safe delivery of the cannabis, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply drugs and was sentenced to seven years.

Purcell, who the judge accepted accompanied Rowntree on their trip to the North East because of “financial difficulties”, was given a four-year jail term.

Thompson, of County Durham and Scarse, of Algeciras, Spain, were also found guilty of conspiring to supply cannabis.

Thompson will be sentenced on Monday at Leeds Crown Court. Scarse will be sentenced next month.

Following yesterday’s hearing, Detective Inspector Warren Stevenson, who led the investigation, said: “These men were organised, a carefully planned network of contacts who seemed determined to distribute cannabis around the North East of England.

“Lister, Scarse, Jolliff and Rawson were powered by greed and used drugs as a way to make cash to fund their lavish lifestyles.

“The sentences given today reflect the serious nature of the charges faced by these men.”