A DETLING drugs baron who went on the run when his crooked empire collapsed is behind bars.

Darren Finch's multi-million pound drug supply business stretched from Kent to Newcastle, but the Detling man fled the country when police cracked his crime ring and jailed 22 gang members in 2008.

The 40-year-old fugitive, from Scragged Oak Road, was arrested on an International Arrest Warrant in Cape Town in July 2010, and was jailed for five and a half years on Thursday, May 19, at Maidstone Crown Court.

He joins co-conspirators including Michael McDonagh from Sligo in Ireland, who fled the country at the same time and was arrested in Amsterdam in November 2010.

Together with McDonagh, Finch headed up the organised gang which delivered cannabis and other drugs throughout England. The drugs were brought in from Germany and the Netherlands to Kent, hidden in lorry loads of legal goods, then taken by lorry driver James Chapman to one of two hubs - Lested Lodge in Chart Sutton, left, and St Margaret’s Farm in Dartford, pictured below. A network of distributors was then employed to deliver the drugs to the north west of England.

Finch and McDonagh tried to frustrate SOCA’s investigation by using multiple untraceable phones, and when Finch was arrested in November 2007, he attempted unsuccessfully to destroy and discard three phones and sim cards.

Financial investigations are still being conducted to look into several members of the network including Finch. So far SOCA has been granted Confiscation and Forfeiture Orders totalling £1.5million.

To date 624kg of cannabis, 75kg of amphetamine sulphate and 9kg of cocaine has been seized by officers.

Finch was given a five and a half year sentence for conspiracy to supply controlled drugs, to run concurrently with a four year sentence for transferring criminal property.

Together the gang were sentenced to more than 120 years in jail.

"It’s probably not the reunion party he had in mind,” said SOCA's Gerry Smyth. “Finch seemed to think he could leave the rest of the gang to carry the can while he stayed out of harm’s way himself in Cape Town. He didn’t count on the excellent cooperation between the UK and South Africa."

On jailing Finch in Maidstone Crown Court, His Honour Judge Joy said: “The supply and importation of drugs is a scourge on society. Finch was a principal in this conspiracy, he was an organiser and his part was crucial.”