A bid to flood the streets with fake ecstasy ended with two men being convicted of fraud.

David Green and Mark Randall were arrested when police found drums of imported BZP – which has similar effects to the class A drug – worth £3 million if sold as ecstasy.

They were caught after police received a tip-off and swooped on a Portslade drugs factory last year.

At the time BZP - full name benzylpiperazine - was a “legal high”, but it has since been reclassified as a class C drug.

Green received a one-year suspended prison sentence at Brighton Crown Court yesterday after admitting possessing BZP with intent to commit fraud.

He was also sentenced to do 300 hours’ unpaid community work.