A GANG who lived a jet-set lifestyle have been jailed for a total of 140 years by Exeter Crown Court for bringing £5.8 million pounds of heroin and cocaine into Devon.

Leader Daniel Smith and his closest associates hired hospitality packages at Liverpool’s Anfield ground and went on exotic holidays with the huge amounts of cash they were making.

They used a cottage in Exbourne as one of their bases and organised 48 drug deliveries to Plymouth, Newton Abbot and Torbay over the space of just 12 months.

They used a fleet of cars and vans with secret compartments to try to avoid detection but were tracked by a painstaking police operation which was praised by the judge as the 19-strong gang received jail terms of up to 13 years.

The court heard how the gang used a string of couriers who were treated as cannon fodder by the leaders of the conspiracy.

When they were caught they simply replaced them with new underlings who were often drug users who owed them money.

A transport firm in Liverpool was used as a cover to organise the trips in vans which had been converted to create secret compartments which were big enough to hide 2.5 kilograms of drugs at a time.

The gang was broken up by a major police operation codenamed Reform which saw couriers intercepted on the M5 at Cullompton, Newton Abbot and Plymouth railway stations and several locations in Torbay.

Police seized £1.25-million in drugs and £91,000 cash and were able to unravel the workings of the plot through mobile phone contacts and surveillance on the days when drug deliveries were made.

The mastermind of the operation was Liverpool- born Daniel Smith, aged 29, who moved to Paignton in Devon but retained extensive contacts in the North West and was a fanatical Liverpool supporter.

He recruited trusted lieutenants in Devon including Neil Cupit, aged 30, who operated out a converted barn at Exbourne and other properties in the county.

Cupit was finally arrested at Newton Abbot station in December when the plotters ran out of couriers and he was forced to carry half a kilogram of heroin worth £50,000 back to Devon.

One of gang, Adam Rogers, committed suicide while awaiting sentence, but the other 18 were jailed for a total of 140 years by Judge David Melville, QC at Exeter Crown Court.

He jailed Smith for 13 years and four months and told him: ‘You were involved as a leader and nothing other than a significant sentence is appropriate.’

He told Neil Cupit: ‘You adopted a supervisory and directing role and the phone contacts show the couriers were at the bottom of the scale and you were at the top. You had £12,900 in your bank account, of which £10,000 was paid in after you moved to Devon.’

The judge also praised the police team who brought the gang to justice. He said: ‘This has been the most meticulous operation and reading the file of phone evidence I could see how much hard work had gone into every page of it.

‘The analysis of the material has been a most remarkable achievement as is shown by the fact that of the 20 defendants, all but two accepted responsibility and there were no lengthy trials.

‘That must be attributable to the very substantial and successful work by all those who took part in this operation and prosecution. I am grateful to all of them.’

The judge ordered the seizure of more than £10,000 cash found on the men when they were arrested and set a timetable for Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings which will strip them of their assets.

Mr Paul Dunkels, QC, prosecuting, said the conspiracy started in December 2013 and continued until the final arrests a year later.

He said Smith was the principal organiser in Devon who used Neil Cupit as a trusted lieutenant after he moved to Devon in February.

Cupit’s first known involvement was when he stayed at Finlake, Chudleigh in February and March, 2014 before taking a tenancy at Stokeinteignhead in March and moving to Exbourne when the lease expired in November.

Lawyers representing the defendants have told the judge they were drawn into the conspiracy by their own drug use or the difficult economic conditions prevailing in Merseyside.

Andrew Cleland and Paul Fagan were convicted by a jury at Exeter Crown Court earlier this year. The 17 other defendants have all admitted conspiracy to supply heroin, cocaine or both drugs.