They appeared to be ordinary builders and workmen in their late 40s, living in cottages in the Cotswolds. But under the surface they operated a secret, multi-million pound cocaine-dealing ring, using normally quiet and well-to-do village inns as cover for their trade.

And last night they began a combined total of 30 years in jail after one of the police's most intensive covert operations, that involved four police forces across the whole of southern England.

The details of the trial of Duncan Whitefoot, 48, from The Gibb in Wiltshire, his right-hand man Stephen Carter, from Monkton Farleigh, near Bath, and their lieutenants have previously been revealed in the Western Daily Press.

Whitefoot was jailed for eight years for cocaine dealing and two-and-a-half years for cannabis dealing, those sentences to run concurrently. Carter was given five-and-a-half years and two years for the same offences.

Meanwhile Geoffrey Skardon, 47, from Albert Park in Bristol, and Timothy Wimble, 46, from Rudloe in Wiltshire, were both jailed for five years, with Wimble receiving a concurrent 18 months for amphetamine dealing.

And the gang's Sussex courier, Andrew Haig, 47, was handed a three-and-a-half year sentence.

The man in charge of the major police operation to smash the gang said he was pleased with the jail terms. Det Insp Craig Holden said: "They are good, substantial jail sentences. We're very happy with the results of what was a highly significant police operation that lasted many months, and involved lots of hard work and effort by dozens of officers.

"It was probably the most substantial drugs ring ever dismantled by Wiltshire police, and we made sure we got to everyone from the ringleaders to the safehouses and the lieutenants," he added.

Now, with sentencing complete, further details of how the police caught the dealers emerged.

Their capture was a tale of drama, danger and farce, with some of the excuses and alibis used by the professional gang bordering on both the sublime and the ridiculous.

Haig, the Sussex link in the operation, drove off as DI Holden was trying to grab his keys in the car park of Ikea in Bristol after the second major drugs bust.

When he was caught half an hour later with a bag containing £34,000 in cash, he claimed he had merely stopped off the M4 in a country lane to answer a call of nature – and happened to find the bag in the hedge at the exact place he stopped.

He also tried to convince police he'd fancied a trip to Ikea and went to the Bristol store after a three-hour journey, during which he passed two others.

Police caught another dealer after he called a mobile phone which they had confiscated.

The sentencing of another of the gang, Jason Proctor, takes place next week, while two other alleged members of the gang – who cannot be named – will face a separate trial later this year.