A KINGSWINFORD based gang of cocaine dealers involved in a £3million drugs ring with Albanian gangsters have been put behind bars.

A special undercover police operation was launched to track down the five-strong gang with officers making a total of 13 arrests nationwide and seizing more than £500,000 worth of class A drugs.

The cocaine was bought by the gang for around £35,000 a kilo from the Albanians and sold on for massive profits in drug deals on the streets of the West Midlands.

Judge Murray Creed, as he passed sentences on the men at the end of Operation Diesel, said: "This was a sophisticated enterprise involving many people at different levels.

"There were meetings throughout the UK and Spain mainly involving the Black Country group who were operating out of the Dudley area."

The gang leader was 29-year-old Craig Davies, of Willow Rise, Brierley Hill, who drove a flash Mercedes and he admitted they bought 12-14 kilos of high grade cocaine from the London-based Albanians.

Davies admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and he was sentenced to 15 years and six months by the judge at Birmingham Crown Court.

David Stokes, his 31-year-old right-hand man, of Tennyson Way, Kidderminster, pleaded guilty to the same charge and he was locked up for 14 years and six months.

James Bishop, aged 33, of Vicarage Road, Stourbridge, was given eight years, Jamie Green, aged 36, of Water Street, Kingswinford, got nine years and four months while Callum Bradley, aged 30, of Ashwood Marina, Kingswinford, was jailed for three years and eight months.

Those three men also admitted the conspiracy charge with the judge ruling their offending was so serious only long jail terms were appropriate for the crimes.

Another man, Khalad Uddin from Oxford, described as being the spider at the heart of racket will not be sentenced until June 9 for conspiracy to supply cocaine.

The 36-year-old, who is currently in HMP Bullingdon, Bicester, was jailed for 14 years earlier this month at Wolverhampton Crown Court for buying two 9mm pistols which were recovered when detectives swooped on a Kingswinford car park.

The court was told the gang carried out much of their illegal activities in the Stallings Lane area of Kingswinford with the high purity cocaine being smuggled into the United Kingdom from South America through Europe.

It was the other man who was organising the crooked operation and when police raided a flat in Oxford, that he was paying £28,000 a year to rent, that they recovered £439,000 in cash.

The cocaine was up to 90 per cent pure and when broken down into street deals the £35,000 paid out for the drug brought in profits of more than £100,000.

The court was told meetings were arranged with Albanian couriers to organise cocaine drops with drugs being delivered on one occasion at the British Oak pub in Kingswinford.

One of the Albanians was then directed to the Cat Inn in Enville where bundles of cash were pushed into his car before he headed back to the London area.

But all the time the men had been kept under observation by the officers from the Regional Organised Crime Squad and they secretly photographed much of what took place.

Two Albanians picked up while driving down the M40 are currently serving 10-year jail terms for their part in the operation.