An Afghan war hero has been jailed for his part in a £2m cocaine and heroin drug-running racket.
Former paratrooper Carl Robinson served in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and Belize and had a list of honours to his name.
He was jailed for nine years for being part of a "transport team".
Liverpool Crown Court heard that his proud service record has been "left in tatters" after he confessed to his part in an international conspiracy.
Father-of-two Robinson admitted conspiracy to import and supply of Class A drugs which were sourced in Holland and had a purity of up to 60 per cent.
Robinson, 30, Eskdale, Skelmersdale, was discharged from the Army in 2008 after six years in which he served in the Paratroop Regiment.
Defence counsel Simon Driver said: "Mr Robinson has pleaded guilty to the charges and lives with the stupidity of getting involved."
Wearing a dark blue polo shirt sombre Robinson appeared in the dock with two accomplices, Graham Miller, 38, an ex-Royal Logistics Corp driver, and Ian Adderley, 46.
The court heard the trio were a "Transport Team" for a large consignment of drugs consisting of 3.5kg of heroin and 4kg cocaine that was stashed in a sophisticated "hide" on a truck that made several trips to the UK.
The trio were arrested by officers from the Titan North West Regional Organised Crime Unit in August 2011 on suspicion of conspiracy to import and supply class A drugs.
Miller and Adderley were arrested in a lay-by in Skelmersdale with a large amount of drugs in a drawstring sack while Robinson was arrested at the Lymm Truck Stop on the M6.
Officers carried out the three arrests as part of a pro-active covert investigation and seized 3.5kg of heroin and 4kg of cocaine.
The purity of the drugs was between 39 per cent and 62 per cent and had an estimated street value of £1.65million.
Recorder of Liverpool Judge Clement Goldstone QC said: "If these drugs had been allowed to get into circulation they would have added to the misery they already cause.
"Your planning indicates a degree of expertise and you may not be at the top rung of the ladder in drug trafficking but you were the transport team and played a vital role.
"You also played for high stakes and lost."
Adderley also admitted cannabis production after some 250 cannabis plants with a street value if £96,000 were discovered in a property in Stoke, Staffordshire.
He was sentenced to nine years for conspiracy to import and supply Class A drugs and four years for the cultivation of a Class B drug for commercial purposes.
Miller was sentenced also sentenced to nine years and the trio were jailed for a total of 31 years.
Det Insp Andy Black said: "We worked closely with the UK Border Agency to identify a pattern of movement of HGVs travelling to and from the continent.
"This ultimately led to the discovery of a significant amount of high purity class A drugs which were destined for the streets of the North West and beyond that had been imported in a sophisticated hidden compartment on the HGVs.
"Today's sentence reflects the severity of the offences and I would like to thank all of our partners and officers for their hard work in bringing them to justice."
Head of Titan's regional crime unit Detective Superintendent Jason Hudson added: "Titan aims to dismantle and disrupt the organised crime groups that cause the most harm to the region.
"We are committed to not only bringing them to justice but to stripping them of their ill-gotten gains and financially ruining them."
Robinson was also handed a nine month concurrent sentence for affray at the Highwayman Pub in Skelmersdale, Lancashire August in 2011.
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