Two brothers who ran a massive drugs and money laundering empire in the Dartford and Gravesend area have each been jailed for 14 years.

Jamie and Cavan Hanna had been successful businessmen and their descent into crime on such a scale was described by a judge as "sheer greed".

Jamie Hanna, 37, of Wrotham Road, Meopham, and Cavan Hanna, 39, of Pinewood Place, Dartford, admitted conspiracy to supply drugs and money laundering.

Employees in the "business", Jon Bastable, Darren Rankin, Stephen Mee and Raj Koli were each jailed for five years. Martin Winter was sentenced to 21 months.

Bastable, 37, of Sutherland Avenue, Welling and Rankin, 38, of West Hill Drive, Dartford, admitted conspiracy to supply drugs and money laundering.

Winter, 46, of Reddy Road, Erith, admitted conspiracy to supply drugs. Koli, 33, of Porchester Square, Bayswater, west London, and Mee, 51, of Foxgrove Avenue, Beckenham, admitted money laundering.

Maidstone Crown Court heard how the brothers established the lucrative empire. At the centre was flat 17 at Alderman House in Greenhithe, where the vast sums of money were "processed".

Police raided the flat and discovered £1,136,000 being counted.

Timothy Cray, prosecuting, said the main cash store was at 12 Stonechat Mews in Stone. The drugs were stored in Plumstead, south east London.

Officers seized 83 kilos of amphetamine worth over £800,000 and 15,200 ecstasy tablets worth £60,000.

"Approximately £5 million in cash was seized," said Mr Cray. "It had been professionally packaged into £50 and £20 notes in vacuum sealed containers and hidden away in safes."

Judge Philip Statman said when passing sentence: "This was big business - big risks for big gains, tax free, enough money to make the jaws of the average citizen drop.

"It is perhaps pertinent to observe that money laundering does not seem to have been hit by the recession."