West Bromwich crook will pay back just £983

That was all that could be found when forensic accountants scoured the books of Lionel Malinga.

The father of three, aged 33, is currently serving eight years in jail after the drugs were discovered hidden in a consignment of 20,000 bottles of soft drink delivered to Ice Age Supplies, his business based at an industrial unit in Church Road, Darlaston.

Malinga, from Windsor Road, West Bromwich, set up the firm to bring cars and foodstuffs into the country but turned to crime when the trade dried up.

At a Proceeds of Crime hearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Wednesday, prosecutor Adrian Chaplin said it was agreed the defendant had derived more than £770,000 benefit from crime over six years, during which £57,000 had passed through the bank account of his wife.

Mr Tarlowchan Dubb, defending, accepted the benefit and repayment figures provided by the prosecution. The drugs were smuggled by sea from Trinidad and Tobago to Felixstowe where they were intercepted by customs and police officers in the early hours of December 2, 2011.

The raiders found 11 packages of cocaine weighing almost nine kilograms with a wholesale value of £360,000 that would have fetched up to £1.68m at street prices, the court heard.

Malinga admitted conspiracy to smuggle cocaine. He was given six months to repay £983 or face a further 28 days behind bars. He is currently not due for release before December 2015.