Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash

A British man left broke after his work as an Uber driver in the UK dried up has been arrested in France with over 1 million EUR worth of drugs hidden in a boat he was towing.

The discovery was made on a service area in Chermignac on the A10 motorway, near the city of Saintes, in the south-western French department of Charente-Maritime on 30th April but has only just been revealed now.

According to the prosecutor’s office in Saintes, police officers found 106 kilogrammes (234 lbs) of cannabis stashed in the hold of the boat that was being towed by a Mercedes people carrier.

The suspect was handed over to investigators in the city of La Rochelle.

The British man, who has not been named due to local privacy laws, was taken to the Saintes prison where he was set to appear immediately before a judge.

According to the Saintes prosecutor’s office, he “spontaneously recognised that he smuggled the drugs from Spain in order to make some money. Working as an Uber driver in the United Kingdom, he indicated that with the coronavirus crisis and having no more work, he had found only this means to make money.”

According to the customs office, the resale value of the drugs is estimated at 1 million EUR (873,634 GBP).

Ordered to be held in pre-trial detention by the judge, he is set to face trial today (TUE). He faces 10 years in prison.