SEVENTEEN dealers from East Lancashire's biggest drugs gang have been jailed for a total of 85 years.

The Nez gang - named after the nickname of ringleader Naheem Nazir - supplied almost all the cocaine and crack-cocaine in the Blackburn area.

Its members were caught in raids after police spent seven months in a covert operation, watching what they described as the biggest cartel they had ever seen.

It is estimated that between June 2005 and November 2006, the gang members - who were all convicted after a trial of conspiracy to supply class A drugs - turned over in excess of £1.6million.

They will face further prosecution next year under the proceeds of crime act, when police will try to seize that money back.

King-pin Nazir, 39, of Stonecross Close, Accrington, was sent to jail for 12 years. He had run the gang like a business, holding meetings in the Blackburn branch of the Little Chef and using threats of violence to keep those working for him under control, Preston Crown court was told.

The 14 men and two women working for him were employed in a variety of roles including street selling, storage and preparing the drugs for sale. They were all given jail terms ranging from three years to seven years and nine months.

After the case, police said that drug addicts across Blackburn and Hyndburn would call Nazir - stored under "Nez" in their phones, and his staff would deliver the drugs to order.

Detectives believe they were selling up to £40,000 worth of drugs each week, and in one raid, a safe containing 3kg of cocaine, worth £146,000, was found.

Officers had been monitoring suspects with covert surveillance since June 2006, seizing drugs and making arrests in a series of raids between November 2006 and January 2007.

Det Insp Pete Simm, who led the operation, codenamed Tobago, said the police action had sent shock waves through the drug-dealing gangs of East Lancashire.

He said: "This was the biggest network that has ever been taken out in Blackburn, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley, and certainly the biggest I've ever seen "Operation Tobago was the culmination of months of hard work and is a reflection of our determination to pursue the prosecution of drugs dealers and the sentences given reflect the very high level of criminality under which these people were operating.

"We have tremendous support from the community and I am confident that we will have contributed to an improved quality of life for those many decent people who are fed up with the criminals who destroy communities and shatter young lives through the supplying of Class A drugs.

"I hope that today's result sends a very clear message to those people who are involved in dealing drugs, that the police do know who they are and what they are doing. It may take time, as complicated investigations do, but they will be targeted and their activities will not be tolerated.

"Tackling Class A drugs is a key priority for Lancashire Constabulary. Our communities do not want people dealing drugs to live among them. Decent people tell us time and again they do not welcome the disruptive criminal minority.

"We work closely with a number of other organisations in the rehabilitation of drug users but our targeting capabilities continue to bring to justice those people who supply drugs."

Anyone with information about drug dealing in their community is urged to contact police on 0845 1 25 35 45 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

The other members of the drugs gang and their sentences Dwayne Wilson, 27, Church Street, Great Harwood - 7 years Kevin Kinder, 37, Roe Lee, Blackburn - 7 years 9 months () Georgina Wilson, 33, Garden Street, Accrington - 6 years Marc Duffy, 24, Garden Street, Accrington - 6 years Javid Razaq, 37, Glenluce Crescent, Blackburn - 4 years 6 months Zafar Hussain, 35, Lambeth Street, Blackburn - 4 years Anthony Shaw, 38, Scotland Bank Terrace, Blackburn - 3 years Aldo Giansoldati, 44, Gloucester Road, Blackburn - 3 years 6 months Michaela Kinder, 33, Joseph Street, Darwen - 3 years 9 months Darren Gregory, 35, Holmbrook Close, Blackburn - 3 years 6 months Douglas King, 21, Shadsworth, Blackburn - 5 years Ian Collins, 27, Ashworth Street, Rishton - 3 years 4 months Philip Wignall, 36, Cleaver Street, Burnley - 3 years Nigel Whalley, 38, St James's Road, Blackburn - 5 years 4 months Daniel Hamer, 24, Hertford Street, Blackburn - 3 years James Robinson, 27, Dukes Brow, Blackburn - 4 years 3 months