Drug smugglers' plane which brought £2m of cocaine to Britain is put up for sale on eBay by police The microlight was seized as smugglers landed in Northamptonshire A reserve of £12,000 has been placed on the plane on the auction site Proceeds will go towards fighting crime and community projects A plane used by a gang of drug smugglers to bring nearly £2million of cocaine into the UK is being sold by police on eBay. Detectives seized the plane when they brought down an international smuggling ring in Northamptonshire last year. It will now be available to the highest bidder online with the sale money to be used by police to fight crime and set up community projects. For sale: Police are selling this microlight plane, seized from a gang of drug smugglers last year, for £12,000 on eBay For sale: The plane was seized by officers from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit as it landed in Northamptonshire on a drugs run But the plane, which officers say will need some work to be airworthy again, will come at a price. The Zenair Zodiac CH601 UL microlight has a reserve price of £12,000 on the online auction site. The plane was used by drugs traffickers to fly a shipment of cocaine from France to Northamptonshire last year. The class A drugs - which had a street value of £1.7 million pounds - had been driven from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to northern France before being loaded onto the aircraft and flown across the English Channel. But the gang were thwarted at the final hurdle when a team from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit was on hand to arrest the smugglers as they landed. Six British men, all from Corby, Northamptonshire, and London pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs in November last year and were jailed for a combined total of 37 years. Adam Simmonds, the Northamptonshire Police and Crime Commissioner, said: 'I believe this may be the first time a force in the country has seized an aeroplane and is in a position to sell it, so this is a great result for us.' Bidding on the plane end shortly after 8pm on March 4. Good cause: Proceeds from the online auction be used by police to fight crime and set up community projects Out of action: The plane is listed on eBay as needing some work to be airworthy again after the wings had to be removed for storage The microlight is listed as needing work to be done to it to make it airworthy because the wings were removed for storage purposes. Detective Inspector Greg Maides, from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, said: 'It is relatively common to confiscate a criminal's car, but it's not often that we make an application to seize a plane so we can't really predict how the bidding is likely to go. That said, whoever does buy it will do so knowing that their money is being put to good use and that they have helped deprive these offenders of a valuable asset that they planned to use to carry out their crimes. Justice: The gang who were caught using the microlight have since been jailed for a combined total of 37 years When a case such as this results in convictions at court and considerable prison sentences for the defendants, we do not see that as the end of the matter. We have the legislative powers to seize criminal assets to strip criminals of their possessions at every stage of the investigation. The plane is not the only loot seized from criminals which the force currently has up for sale. A replica Second World War German BMW R70 motorbike and sidecar is on offer for £4,500 and a Breitling watch is on sale for £1,750.