A gang leader who made almost £8m importing cannabis into the UK has been ordered to hand back a quarter of the money.

Christopher Rowe funded a lavish lifestyle by transporting huge amounts of cannabis from Spain to Holland, before shipping them to Britain concealed in lorryloads of rubber tiles.

The 63-year-old built up a criminal collection of five properties, several high-valued sports cars and a speedboat, and was caught attempting to hide £268,000 in cash when he was arrested at his Coulsdon home in March 2007.

He was jailed for eight years and three months in March 2009, but it has taken another year for police to trawl through his finances.

Rowe, who lived in Rickmanhill Road, must pay back £1,832,742 to the public purse within six months.

Detective Inspector Gary Townsend, from the Metropolitan Police’s Serious and Organised Crime Command, said: “This was a sophisticated operation, masterminded by Rowe, which has been completely dismantled.

“On top of serving a substantial prison sentence, Rowe has been required to sell all his assets to pay this significant confiscation order, and it is only right that he should not be allowed to reap the benefits of his crimes.”

Rowe and three other men were sentenced to a total of 25 years imprisonment last year for their part in the smuggling network, which trafficked cannabis from Spain to Rotterdam port and then into the UK.

The drugs were stored in a pair of farm buildings in East Sussex, where Rowe arranged for customers to pick them up by appointment.

A police raid on the farms in March 2007 uncovered one tonne of cannabis, while on the same day Rowe was arrested at his home with nine mobile phones in his pockets attempting to hide £268,000 in cash.