Keith Raymond Spartley, of Glyn Morlas, Oswestry, and his brother Malcolm Philip Spartley, who lives in Holland, were allegedly caught bringing 217 kilos of ecstasy from the Netherlands into the UK hidden among a haul of ceramics.

The two brothers deny conspiring to import ecstasy and two further charges of possessing cannabis with intent to supply.

On Wednesday at Woolwich Crown Court, Keith Spartley took to the witness box for the first time on the sixth day of the trial and revealed he sold drugs from his rented rural home after moving there in January last year.

He denied he lived a “lavish” lifestyle but said he moved to the border market town for “a relaxed comfortable rural existence”.

Keith Spartley admitted he had done four “jobs” for a man only known as “H” where he hired a van and met an unknown person.

He told the court the van was taken away and brought back fully loaded for him to deliver the goods.

He told Judge Peter Moss that he thought he was delivering “contraband cigarettes and tobacco”.

The 50-year-old father-of-five told the crown court jury that he “inhaled” cannabis to help with his multiple sclerosis. But he said when he bought a kilo of cannabis resin for £700 he started to sell it because he was “running out of funds”.

When asked if he was involved in the alleged “conspiracy to import drugs” Keith Spartley replied “never in a million years”.

The trial continues.