Key figures in a gang that controlled a town's drugs supply are now behind bars after a major undercover police investigation.
Mark Cavanagh and his crew held such domination over Ellesmere Port's heroin and cocaine trade that addicts were forced to leave the town in search of their fix after their dealers were arrested in June.
Judge Steven Everett, the Recorder of Chester, branded the operation one of the biggest he had dealt with after hearing as much as 48kg of Class A drugs may have been dealt by the gang.
Cavanagh, from Wallasey, ruled over a network of couriers, dealers and safe houses and flooded Ellesmere Port with heroin and crack cocaine.
The 30-year-old also held sway over the Lache area of Chester.
Detectives believe that drugs 'line', nicknamed the Dell Line, could have sold a combined total of between 2.9kg and 5.8kg of heroin and crack, with an estimated value of between £278,000 and £556,000.
Far more substantial was the Dark Line, in Ellesmere Port.
It is believed between 21.2kg and 42.5kg of heroin and crack, with an equivalent estimated value of between £903,500 and £1,807,000, was sold to that network of customers.
Both operations were controlled through graft phones. Addicts would ring the phone to place orders with Cavanagh's inner circle, who would then organise a drop off between the customer and a dealer they controlled.
Simon Parry, prosecuting at Chester Crown Court, said: "Mark Cavanagh was the controller of the organised crime gang and the respective drug lines.
"The prosecution say that he played a leading role as he was responsible for organising the buying and selling of Class A drugs on a commercial scale."
Cavanagh had high-level connections and sourced his drugs from wholesalers on Merseyside, Manchester and further afield.
The dad used a phone enabled with Encrochat - an encrypted messaging service heavily relied upon by Europe's top-tier criminals - to conduct deals.
The service was breached by detectives earlier this year.
Cavanagh had already admitted conspiracy to supply Class A drugs at the time of the breakthrough, but police still examined his phone and uncovered a web of suppliers operating under codenames across the North West.
Despite his access to sophisticated - and expensive - technology, he was unable to avoid the attention of Cheshire Police.
The force launched an undercover operation that pieced together the gang's hierarchy and established how it had created a hold on Ellesmere Port's drugs market, and part of Chester's, through 10 months of surveillance.
As police monitored Cavanagh and "trusted lieutenants" Karl Evans, Joshua Burns, Hakeem Stockton and Liam Roberts, all of whom were granted access to graft phones and cash, they identified safe houses from Wallasey to Ellesmere Port.
On the ground, undercover officers bought drugs from the gang on 19 occasions.
Operation Olympia reached a climax when police stormed 20 homes across Cheshire, arresting 18 suspects, on June 15.
Cavanagh's home - then Foxdene in Ellesmere Port - was one of the addresses raided in the early morning strike.
Within days of the gang being taken out, Cheshire Police arrested five suspected drug dealers that had moved in, hoping to fill the vacuum of power left after Cavanagh's arrest.
The arrests came so soon after the raids that addicts in Ellesmere Port started travelling outside the town to buy drugs because they feared police had infiltrated every level of a local market that was hit with severe shortages.
Cavanagh and his associates were handed their sentences over three days of hearings this week.
Judge Everett slammed the gang, telling Cavanagh: "The use and sale of these drugs is one of the major blights on our society in the modern day."
The judge said the scale of the enterprise was "truly, truly astonishing".
Detective Chief Inspector Mike Evans, from Cheshire Police's Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: “After this lengthy investigation, it is great to see the sentences that have been passed down by the courts.
“Cavanagh saw an opportunity to take over a small market town and have a monopoly over drug dealing in Ellesmere Port. His dangerous actions caused misery for anyone who got in his way.
“This operation shows how, when acting on information from local communities, we can bring down gangs who believe they are above the law.”
Those sentenced were:
Mark Cavanagh, 30, of Foxdene, Ellesmere Port: 14 years and six months for conspiracy to supply Class A (heroin and crack cocaine) and dangerous driving
Joshua Burns, 24, of Flint Court, Ellesmere Port: 50 months for conspiracy to supply Class A (heroin and crack cocaine).
Karl Evans, 20, of Hillside Drive, Ellesmere Port: 66 months for conspiracy to supply Class A (heroin and crack cocaine).
Hakeem Stockton, 20, of Vale Road, Ellesmere Port: 62 months for conspiracy to supply Class A (heroin and cocaine) and GBH.
Liam Roberts, 23, of Wilmslow Drive, Ellesmere Port: 70 months for conspiracy to supply Class A (heroin and cocaine) and for breaching a suspended sentence.
Curtis McHugh, 22, of Bailey Avenue, Ellesmere Port: 22 months for conspiracy to supply Class A (heroin and cocaine).
Anthony Carr, 32, of Whetstone Hey, Ellesmere Port: 22 months for conspiracy to supply Class A (heroin and cocaine).
Adam Arthur, 22, of Parklands, Ellesmere Port, was sentenced to 26 months for supply Class A.
Callum Watson, 23, of Sheepfield Close, Ellesmere Port was sentenced to 22 months for conspiracy to supply Class A
Daniel Riley, 19, Mancot Way, Mancot was sentenced to 22 months for conspiracy to supply Class A.
Wayne Galland, 52, of Crispin House, Chester was sentenced to 24 months for conspiracy to supply Class A and for breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order.
Daniel Winning, 33, Talbot Road, Dunham on the Hill, was sentenced to 25 months for conspiracy to supply Class A.
Shaun Winning, 31, Malvern Road, Blacon was sentenced to 58 months for supply Class A.
Mark Griffin, 40, of Ludlow Road, Blacon was sentenced to 50 months for supply Class A and possession of a class C controlled drug (amphetamine).
