A cocaine and cannabis dealer from Salford - a top-ranking member of an organised crime group police said supplied drugs on a 'commercial scale' into the north west - has been locked up.
'Main player' Shaheed Virmani, from Swinton, supplied 'large amounts' to the gang's Spain-based leader, Usman Akhter, and also received drugs back from him.
Akhter - who lived a life of luxury in a Marbella villa called 'Los Flamingos' - 'controlled a sophisticated network bringing hundreds of kilos of cocaine and cannabis into the region', police said.
They said properties used by the gang in the UK were 'unobtrusive' - but Akhter's villa in Marbella 'showed the more lavish trappings of the conspiracy'.
Lancashire Police launched Operation Florence last year following concerns raised by residents in Darwen, Lancashire, over children being drawn into drug use then exploited into dealing to settle debts.
Twelve people - including Akhter and Virmani - have now been jailed for a combined total of more than 60 years.
A further eight will also be sentenced at Preston Crown Court in October.
Virmani, 28, of Warren Drive, Swinton, Salford, was jailed for 11 years for conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis.
Akhter - from Darwen - got 13 years.
Police said the gang used the 'façade' of a car sales business in Burnley, run by Akhter's girlfriend, to provide vehicles, move drugs around and to explain large deposits of cash.
High-level gang members, Lancashire Police said, used encrypted mobile phones known as EncroChat phones, which the force said the gang wrongly believed would mask their conversations from police.
Police swooped on a number of addresses in the north west earlier this year and a large quantity of suspected cocaine and cannabis was recovered, alongside a number of vehicles and weapons.
One gang member, Marbella-based Liam Martyn, was shot there in May 2020 and arrested in Plymouth while on the run, the force added.
Police said Martyn, originally from Dronfield, Derbyshire, was involved in the supply of drugs from Spain to the UK.
He got seven years for the same offences as Akhter and Virmani.
Inspector Martin Melvin said: "We are committed to tackling and disrupting drug-dealing activity and protecting vulnerable members of society.
"This operation was launched directly on the back of concerns raised by members of the public and I would encourage anyone concerned about criminal activity in their area to contact the police, knowing that we will act on that information and take the appropriate action."
