A GANG who plotted to pour £12m of drugs onto Liverpool’s streets were today starting a combined 70-year jail term.

The drug ring were found with cocaine, ecstasy and almost three and a half tonnes of cannabis.

They also kept a deadly cache of weapons in the countryside to defend their drugs factory.

During a raid on a disused barn police found semi-automatic handguns, mortar bombs and a sub-machine gun, as well as body armour and balaclavas.

The barn, in Dutton, near Runcorn contained £300,000-worth of equipment including a large industrial press, mixing agents and four kilos of coke.

Nine gang members are starting sentences totalling nearly 70 years for their part in an intricate network of drug dealing and importation following a Cheshire Police probe. Another nine men have been arrested and are facing criminal proceedings.

Anthony Collings, 41, of no fixed address, and Colin Whitfield, 35, from Morval Crescent in Runcorn, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply 105kg of cannabis and were sentenced to nine years in total.

Stephen Gerrard, 44, from Brambling Close in Runcorn, John Gaskin, 40, from Spennymoor Court in Runcorn, and Anthony Cowan, 34, from Penshaw Court in Runcorn, pleaded guilty to involvement in importing 240kg of cannabis. Gerrard was jailed for six-and-a-half years, Gaskin for six years, and Cowan to five years.

Stephen Moore, 35, from The Glen in Runcorn, Peter Fogg, 26, from Littlebourne in Runcorn, and Thomas Turner, 27, from Rawdon Close in Runcorn, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess firearms and ammunition with intent to supply cocaine, and were yesterday sentenced to a total of 33 and a half years. Barry Turner, 19, from  Runcorn was found guilty of possession of cocaine with intent to supply. He was jailed for four years.