The men shook hands in the dock

Thomas McAnea, 50, and Raymond Dean, 46, were jailed for 10 years and eight-and-a-half years.

The man accused of being the main printer, 43-year-old John McGregor was sentenced to five years. Another printer, Dennis McGinnis, 41, was given a year.

They shook hands and congratulated each other in the dock at the appeal court in Edinburgh as Scotland's senior judge, the Lord Justice General, Lord Rodger, announced that their legal challenges had succeeded.

The search warrants cited a non-existent piece of legislation, the 1989 Forgery and Counterfeiting Act. The number nine in the date of the legislation should have been a one.

'Cataclysmic disaster'

Solicitor-advocate Joe Beltrami, who appeared for Mr McGregor, said: "The end result of this case is that much more care will be put int the preparation, presentation and checking of search warrants.

"From the public and Crown point of view much good will emerge from this catalclysmic disaster, at least one hopes so. A shoddy approach is what brought about this shambles," said Mr Beltrami.

"Because of their importance search warrants should not be treated as a formality and should be properly researched.

"Notes" found during the search

"There is no room for the excuse of typographical error."

At the men's trial, Frank Mulholland, for the prosecution, said: "There was the capbility of producing pounds �1m worth of Bank of England �20 notes every two to three hours.

"The counterfeiting here is a potential threat to the economic well-being of this country. It is not only the economy of this country but Denmark as well," he warned.

Police carried out a raid armed with search warrants on printing premises in Glasgow's Beith Street after receiving a tip-off in 1996.

The Crown presented evidence at the trial that two "forgery factories" were uncovered capable of producing currency and that the gang were involved in the production of postage stamps, TV licence stamps, MoT certificates, savings stamps, and duty free vouchers for cross-channel ferries.

The police operation was dubbed Operation Wembley as they feared that the plan was to flood the European Championships in England with fake notes.