TWO men behind Lancashire’s ‘biggest drugs operation’ have been jailed for a total of 22 years.

Fakruddin Ibrahim, 26, and Rashed Manzoor, 36, both of Carr Lane, Chorley, were sentenced at Preston Crown Court yesterday for conspiracy to supply drugs worth in excess of £1.25million.

Ibrahim received 8 years and Manzoor 14 years.

Judge Graham Knowles QC said: “There was nobody above you in this county. You were the top of your own tree.”

The court heard how the pair were arrested on October 7 after extensive surveillance from Lancashire Constabulary’s Target team.

Ibrahim, who is the brother of Hisamuddhin Ibrahim - who was jailed for the deaths of a husband and wife in a petrol bomb attack in Blackburn - was followed by police as he drove a grey Audi S3 to the Hartshead service station on the M62 in West Yorkshire.

He was pulled over by officers after being seen to make an exchange with the driver of a Kia.

A drugs sniffer dog detected two bags containing two kgs of heroin concealed in a hidden compartment behind the door trim of the Audi.

The court heard how the drugs had a purity of 20 per cent and were worth £150 to £200,000 in that state.

If the drugs were cut up with the 10.5 kgs of paracetemol found later at the men’s house, the heroin would have had a street value of £1.25million.

At the same time Ibrahim was being searched, police watched Manzoor emptying bags from the house in Carr Lane into a Renault Megane and taking holdalls out of a garage.

Officers raided the property and found another 40 kgs of heroin worth £40,000, cannabis, drugs paraphernalia and £38,680 in cash.

Ibrahim pleaded guilty to his part in the drugs operation whereas Manzoor was found guilty after a four day trial.

Both have previous convictions for supplying drugs.

Sentencing, Judge Knowles said: “Both men knew the consequences of this conspiracy.

“They know the misery drugs cause, the misery to people who are burgled by people who need money to pay for drugs, they knew the sort of person involved in the implementation of drugs.”

A confisaction hearing for the two men will be heard at Preston Crown Court on December 9.

Hisamuddin Ibrahim, 21, was jailed for a minimum of 28 years for the murder of Abdullah and Aysha Mohammed following an arson attack on their home in London Road, Blackburn, in October 2009.