A MAJOR drugs cartel that peddled more than £1.5m of heroin and cocaine across the UK has been jailed for a total of 167 years.

Blackburn drug barons Suhail Vohra and Babar Qasam led the ‘sophisticated’ operation, in which 45kgs of cocaine, £200,000 in cash, plus heroin and cannabis were confiscated by Lancashire police’s Serious and Organised Crime unit.

As well as 32-year-old Vohra, of Charnwood Close and Qasam, 34, of Chestnut Walk, 34 members of the organised crime gang were also imprisoned as part of the police operation.

They include Arif Akram, 33, of Skelshaw Close, Sajid Akram, 34, of Brunel Walk, Rahim Bukhsh, 29, of Pelham Street, Zubair Patel, 27, of Whalley New Road, Soyab Sidat, 29, of Providence Street, Mohseen Valli, 28, Wellfield Road, all Blackburn.

These eight will serve a combined total of 51 years and six months behind bars after being convicted of a variety of charges including conspiracy to supply class A drugs and money laundering.

Police said the gang’s year long activities were focussed on Blackburn and Preston but also strayed as far as Cumbria, Merseyside, Berkshire and West Yorkshire.

Those involved were arrested in a series of early morning raids in August and September 2011 by hundreds of police officers from across the north west.

During covert investigations which followed, drugs and bundles of cash were seized by police who targeted the gang as they travelled along the motorway network.

Det Supt Int Lee Halstead, head of Lancashire police’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: “Operation Oak has dismantled a network of drugs gangs responsible for the supply of over £1.5million worth of cocaine and heroin.

“This drugs operation was carried out with a certain level of sophistication as the drugs had to be imported into the country.

“As a result these people, who did not have a legitimate income, led comfortable and in some cases quite affluent lifestyles, acting as negative role models for young people.

“This was at the expense and misery of other residents in the community, whose lives were blighted by the effects of drug dealing and associated violence in their neighbourhoods.

“This has been a large scale investigation and we have worked closely with officers from our neighbouring forces and the Crown Prosecution Service. Together, our actions have prevented a significantly large amount of drugs from reaching the streets of Lancashire helping to make the county a safer place.”

Police said senior members of the gang organised the importation of the drugs from abroad.

When the drugs were in the country, they were collected by members deemed ‘lower in the food chain’ and driven across the country, both into and out of Lancashire.

Some of those involved would then deal the drugs at street level, police said.

Details of the full investigation can only now be made public after reporting restrictions were lifted following a hearing at Preston Crown Court.

Police now intend to use billboard posters and leaflets about the case as a deterrent.

Det Supt Lee Halstead said: “Our planned ‘Behind Bars’ campaign should now remind everyone that 167 years in prison is proof that crime certainly does not pay.

“It’s incredibly important that people continue to support the police by providing us with information so that we can keep them safe and look for ways to prevent organised crime gangs from operating in the future.”

Joanne Cunliffe, a spokesman for the Crown prosecution Service, said: “The message is clear, we will not tolerate the supply of drugs on our streets and we are wholly committed to prosecuting those responsible.”

Vohra was jailed for 10 years six months, Qasam, 11 years, Arif Akram, four years three months, Sajid Akram, six years four months, Bukhsh, three years, Patel, 27, six years, Sidat, 30 months, and Valli, three years.

Other gang leaders locked up include Asrer Khan, 29, and Neil Scarborough, 32, both from Preston, Brett McWilliam, 31, from Barrow in Furness, Gary Rowlands, 28, from Barrow in Furness, Roman Moscicki, 30 from Slough, Mezan Rahman Miah, 29, from Bradford, Jonathon Nicholls, 31, from Liverpool, Tahier Chand, 34, from Huddersfield.

Also jailed for their part in the conspiracy are Alan Mason, 38, Wayne Hodson, 32, Tanveer Fazal, 31, Jordan Burland, 29, Michael Brennan, 32, Kevin Booth, 33, Stuart Billington, 28, from John Banks, 34, and Lee Ashton, 25, all from Preston, Noreen Sohail, 35, and Tamoor Ahmed, 36, from Slough, Naeem Patel, 31, of no fixed address, Philip Elleray, 33, Walton-le-Dale, John Turnstall, 41, Lee Parkin, 30, Eugene Johnson, 22, Christopher Farley, 31, all from Liverpool and Carl Hartley, 31, Christopher Dodd, 28, David Beale, 40, all from Barrow-in-Furness.