A NORTH-EAST family-run drugs racket has been smashed by detectives who have secured convictions totalling 28 years.

The lengthy investigation removed one of the region's most prolific crime gangs, run by husband and wife Christopher and Jane Moloney, who were jailed for 12 and eight years respectively.

Their illicit empire secured them a lavish lifestyle, with a house in The Avenue, Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, worth £200,000, a £30,000 BMW, a Mercedes 4x4 also worth £30,000, a house the couple rented out and two fish shops.

Following their convictions for conspiracy to supply drugs, the pair have been ordered to pay £440,000 from their criminal activities, and detectives are determined their ill-gotten gains will be liquidated.

In a desperate attempt to avoid prosecution, Christopher Molo-ney revealed his past as a police informant.

Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Braithwaite, head of crime and operations at Cleveland Police, is warning drug barons that the success of Operation Tarvin will not be a one-off victory.

He said: "Aside from the jail terms imposed for their drug-dealing activities, we can -and will -take whatever steps we can to strip such people of their illegally gained assets. The public expect and demand it and it is my job to ensure that we deliver on it.

"In the case of Christopher and Jane Moloney, that is precisely what we have done. Three years ago, they lived a lavish lifestyle -a lifestyle based on the misery of others."

The catalyst for the investigation was a raid at Teesside University that netted £67,000 worth of heroin and crack cocaine, £20,000, a pump-action shotgun and pistol.

In February, Mark McCabe, 47, of Holgate, Middlesbrough, was jailed for five years after he admitted he was paid by the criminal gang to store the illegal stash at the university's Middlesbrough campus.

Moloney's niece, Nicola Harrison, of Hedingham Close, Middlesbrough, was sentenced to three years in jail for her involvement in the conspiracy.

The three-year-long investigation came to a conclusion when Terence Moloney, of Hedingham Close, the estranged brother of Christopher, and Raymond Mann, of Holme House Prison, Stockton, were sentenced to jail terms of three years 11 months and 18 months respectively for supplying heroin.

Judge Peter Briggs praised the efforts of the investigating officers when he sentenced the last two defendants on Thursday afternoon.

He said: "In the case of Detective Constable James Devine, his persistence was very much above the call of duty. It was meticulous, accurate and useful."