FOUR men have been sentenced to a total of nearly 40 years in jail for their roles in a £1m cocaine haul.

One of the men, 24-year-old Abrahim Abdul Wahid, of Battery Road, Thamesmead, pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply cocaine and was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison at Croydon Crown Court.

He and three others were arrested in August last year after HM Revenue & Customs intercepted four parcels coming into the UK from Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

Each package contained around one kilogram of cocaine at 79 per cent purity, meaning the total street value was £1 million.

Two parcels were addressed to a pet shop and two were addressed to a school, both in Herne Hill, but both of these sites were innocent parties, completely unaware of the contents of the parcels.

Wahid went to the pet shop dressed as a courier to collect the packages but it had already been sent back to the post depot. He was followed by police who arrested him a few days later.

Anthony Reid, aged 33, from Enfield, pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply cocaine and was sentenced to five years in prison.

He also pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and was sentenced to seven years for this, to run consecutively.

James Mitchell, aged 52, from Brent, was found guilty at a trial of conspiring to supply cocaine and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

He was also found guilty of dangerous driving and sentenced to 12 months in jail for this. The sentences will run concurrently.

Finally, 26-year-old Craig Beckford, from Chelsea, denied a charge of conspiring to supply cocaine but was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being found guilty following a trial.