The court heard Bulcroft and Williams, 42, used the Encrochat encrypted phone network buy the drugs.

Judge Hampton said the pair were the “middle men” and purchased the drugs wholesale from Christopher and Jonathan McAllister – who were jailed in 2022 for importing Class A drugs – before supplying them to be sold in South Yorkshire.

Bulcroft was said to have used Encrochat, an encrypted phone network, to communicate with an individual from Spain yet to be identified, who had advised him of the process of buying kilos of cocaine priced between £34,000 and £37,000.

Judge Hampton said he had “retailed” about 5kg of the drug, “no doubt to significant financial profit”.

Williams sold between two and three kilos of cocaine, the judge added.

Officers found £84,000 in cash stashed inside a safe in a fortified outbuilding when they arrested Williams, 43, at his house on Church Street in Mexborough in June 2020, as well as £9,500 of cocaine and £105 of cannabis.