GREAT BRITAIN - Kevin Hanley, Britain’s top drug smuggler, has been sentenced to 17 years and 4 months after smuggling about $8 million worth of cocaine in watermelons and pomegranates.

In 2012, Hanley’s drug ring was busted with police seizing about $4 million in cocaine and more than $3 million in cash, according to the Daily Mail. 

Hanley escaped capture and went on the run with his girlfriend, Chrysi Minadaki, a Greek television presenter who provided the trucks and the fruits as a cover for the drug smuggling.

He was caught in Greece last July and eventually extradited back to Britain.  Hanley plead guilty to drug smuggling conspiracy and was sentenced to prison yesterday, according to the Daily Mail.

The Guardian reports that the court learned during the hearing that Hanley was a key lieutenant of Brian Brendan Wright, a notorious drug kingpin known as the Milkman because 'he always delivered,' who is currently serving a 30-year jail sentence.

Minadaki and John Fowler, who acted as Hanley’s right-hand man, were also sentenced to 17 years and 16 years respectively.  All three were convicted of plotting to supply heroin, amphetamines and cannabis, as well as money laundering.