Businessman Brian Biggs, who masterminded a drug smuggling operation, is facing ruin after he was jailed for nearly four years and ordered to forfeit £170,331.

Police said father-of-four Biggs, 51, who co-owns Bicester-based horticultural firm Plantasia, made more than £1m through drugs.

He will now have to sell his two Oxfordshire homes and hand over his savings to pay the penalty within six months or go to jail for a further two years and nine months.

Judge Julian Hall said he took into account plans by Home Secretary David Blunkett to reduce cannabis from a category B to C drug when sentencing Biggs and his two co-defendants.

Mr Blunkett's proposals mean that the maximum sentence for people convicted of cannabis dealing will drop from 14 years in jail to five.

Paul Kelly and Stephen Clough, both 33, admitted drug dealing offences. They were sentenced to three years and three months and two-and-a-half years in jail respectively.

Oxford Crown Court had heard that police rumbled the operation while monitoring Biggs's properties at Villiers Road, Bicester, and Brill View Farm, near Piddington, in January.

As a result of their efforts, 60kg of cannabis resin with a street value of £260,000 was recovered as well as a series of lists written by Biggs detailing drug deals. The court heard that an Astra van rented by Biggs and driven by Clough was followed to London where officers in the capital joined the sur- veillance.

Sandra Stanfield, prosecuting, said the driver met Kelly and an exchange of cannabis and cash was made.

The Astra was followed and stopped at Cherwell Valley Services on the M40 at Ardley, near Bicester. Officers found just under 25kg of cannabis with a street value of £106,000.

A search then took place at Biggs's home at Villiers Road where 2.47kg of cannabis, worth just under £10,500, was discovered as well as 23 cannabis plants and 71 ecstasy tablets.

Police also found £69,900 in used bank notes in a bedroom study, £20,000 in a loft and £1,120 on the defendant.

A total of 22.1kg of cannabis was found at Brill View Farm, with a street value of £94,650.

Police searched Kelly's home, in Croydon, and found 11kg of cannabis, worth £47,100, and a briefcase containing £47,260.

Judge Hall suggested that Biggs had made more than £800,000 from the operation.

He said Kelly had made £95,520, but the only realistic amount they could recover was the £47,260 which police found at his home and had already confiscated.

The prosecution did not ask for money to be recovered from Clough, who acted as a courier and received £600.

Clough admitted one charge of possessing cannabis with intent to supply.

Biggs, who had previous convictions for producing a controlled drug and cultivating cannabis, told the court he did not sell drugs for profit but was instead looking after cannabis and cash for a contact.

Rejecting his defence, Judge Hall told him: "This is nonsense. I'm amazed that everyone can keep a straight face."