A LOCAL man has been arrested in Dover after drugs with a street value of £2.5 million were found on a lorry he was driving.

Customs and Excise Officers swooped minutes after the 40-year-old, from Radcliffe, arrived at the port late on Wednesday.

Seven hundred kilos of cannabis resin, 45 kilos of amphetamine and a quantity of herbal cannabis were recovered.

Bury police later raided a house in Summerseat, connected to the man, and took away unspecified items.

On Thursday, the man was still in custody as the investigation continued. He had not been charged at that stage.

A spokesman for Customs & Excise said: "The 40-year-old man was arrested after arriving back at Dover on Wednesday evening. We don't know from where he had originally started his journey back to England. For all we know, it could have been from much further afield.

"The drugs were discovered inside a lorry he had been driving. I cannot say whether the lorry actually belongs to the man who was arrested. But we can confirm that our officers recovered a large quantity of cannabis resin and amphetamine.

"We reckon the street value of all the drugs is around £2.5 million.

"But that figure can obviously change depending on the street value within different areas of the country."

Later, Customs and Excise requested police in Bury to search the house in Summerseat, a property apparently linked to the man.

Det Ch Insp Frank Raggett of Bury CID said: "Police officers carried out a search of the house and seized several articles."

But he declined to disclose what they were.

The investigation is now being conducted jointly by customs officials and the National Crime Squad.