Cocaine worth £5million has been seized from a drug-dealing gang that included five men from Kent

The gang of nine were jailed for a total of almost 89 years at Luton Crown Court on Friday.

The men were arrested between May and October 2013 following a 12-month operation by detectives.

Jonathan Mason, 45 , of Cliffs End Road, Ramsgate, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Robert Webb, 55, of Cliffs End Promenade, Broadstairs, was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Gareth Harnett, 32, of Oaklands Avenue, Broadstairs, was sentenced to five years and four months in prison.

Daren Coomber, 41, of Hoaden, Ash near Canterbury, was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Paul Nolan, 36, of St Radigunds Road, Dover, was sentenced to 11 years for in prison.

Patrick Dyett, from Poole in Dorset was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison.

Eamon Ward, 28 , from Newry in County Down, Ireland, was sentenced to 10 years and five months in prison.

Sean Martin, 32, from Bedford, Beds, was sentenced to six years in prison and Andrew Dawson, 45, from Clophill, Beds, was sentenced to five years and four months in prison.

Webb, Mason, Dyett, Harnett, Martin and Dawson had all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine at an earlier hearing.

Coomber, Nolan and Eamon Ward had all entered not guilty pleas but were subsequently found guilty of conspiracy to supply cocaine following a trial at Luton in September.

The court heard how during the operation, initial arrests and searches in Bedfordshire resulted in the recovery of a quantity of cocaine together with ‘cutting’ agents and equipment from a garage in Clophill.

Further arrests in Kent during July also resulted in the seizure of 7kg of cocaine, cutting agents and a hydraulic drugs press from an a premises in Broadstairs.

This was followed by the seizure of 15kg of cocaine hidden in pallets of catering fruit from a lorry at an industrial estate near Dover, directly after the lorry had entered the UK from France.

An earlier seizure of 2kg of cocaine in Norfolk was directly linked to the Bedfordshire part of the operation.

The combined value of the cocaine directly seized during the operation amounted to an estimated wholesale price of £1million and overall street price of just over £5 million.

Mason and Webb were regarded as having played a leading role in relation to the importation and distribution of 22kg of cocaine.

Mason, also charged with mortgage fraud and money laundering, purported to be a property developer and was notably seen to construct a substantial two-storey extension at his own home address which was then furnished with high-end fittings.

Webb claimed to be retired but was largely responsible for arranging the transportation.

Dyett was also regarded to have played a ‘leading role’ in a conspiracy to supply cocaine across the region.

All of the other men were regarded as having undertaken various other significant roles in the conspiracy to supply and distribute the cocaine.

Nolan was the owner of the haulage company in whose lorry the drugs were found while Ward was the driver.

Harnett had already been arrested in June for an unrelated matter in Scotland while in possession of 30kg of cannabis.

A subsequent search of a premises linked to that arrest led to the recovery of a further 120kg of cannabis derivatives.

Martin and Dawson were involved in the cutting and onward distribution from Bedfordshire into East Anglia.

In April Coomber had been found guilty, following a separate trial at Luton Crown Court, in relation to a conspiracy to supply cocaine.

As part of that operation another associate -Anthony Ruane was previously sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court to eight years imprisonment for his role, having been arrested for being in possession of 7kg of cocaine.

DI Gary Atkinson, of Hertfordshire Police who led the investigation, said: “Cocaine destroys lives and those sentenced operated purely for their own greed and monetary gain with no regard for the law, nor for the lives of those who are vulnerable through their addictions.

“The calculated and planned criminal activities which fuelled their enterprise were, in their eyes, merely business transactions, which had we not intercepted them - would have played a significant contributory factor in destroying more lives.”