FOUR members of a sophisticated gang which ran a 24-hour 'dial-a-drug' service which extended from London to Swindon have been jailed.

The underworld operation is believed to have had a conservative turnover of £2m a year.

A massive police operation was mounted to smash the East London gang, with street dealers unknowingly supplying undercover officers with a series of 20 wraps of crack cocaine.

In December last year, officers swooped to make 16 arrests in the Bangladeshi community to halt a business believed to have been running for up to five years.

Detectives have discovered links to Swindon and the West Country and are investigating possible connections with other cities across the country.

At London's Southwark Crown Court, Shamshad Ahmed, 28, of Whitechapel; Shueb Choudhury, 22, of Bethnal Green; Abdul Alim, 21, of Haggerstone; and Khairul Mahmun, 26, of Bethnal Green, were all sentenced for their part in the scam.

They all admitted being knowingly concerned in the supply of Class A drugs between October 16 and December 5, last year.

Judge Neil Stewart sentenced Ahmed, Choudhury, and Alim, to six years jail, and Mahmun to four-and-a-half years.

A fifth man, Abdul Hasnath, will be sentenced at a later date.

The Crown claim that Ahmed was in charge of the operation, with Alim and Choudhury acting as lieutenants a hierarchy denied by the defendants.

It was accepted that Mahmun was a street dealer.

Sentencing, the judge said that the police operation made huge demands on police resources and exposed undercover officers to considerable personal risk.

He said: 'The activity of supplying class A drugs on the streets is a considerable nuisance to members of the public, and by attracting addicts it increases crime, particularly street crime and burglary.

"The supply of crack and heroin perpetuates addiction, which for a user can cause misery, humiliation, degradation, and possibly death."