John Gorman "organised, managed and arranged" drug deals

In Glasgow, John Gorman, 49, from Irvine, received 12 years for drug dealing and money laundering.

Four accomplices were jailed for a total of 16-and-a-half years.

In Spain, another four men - including two Scots - were sentenced to a total of 13 years after they were caught on a fishing boat carrying �24m of cannabis.

Operation Folklore saw authorities seize �61m of drugs over two years.

It was led by the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency and was one of Scotland's longest covert investigations.

Ahmed and Lowrie were convicted of laundering "dirty money"

The operation involved two dozen police surveillance experts from July 2003 to June 2005.

At the High Court in Glasgow Gorman was found guilty of supplying heroin, cocaine and cannabis in Ayrshire with a street value of �362,000.

Judge Lord Bracadale said: "Evidence showed you were the likely organiser and manager who arranged deals. Profits were high and so were the risks."

Gorman was in the dock with Mushtaq Ahmed, 51, from Bradford, James Lowrie, 59, from Cheshire, and William McDonald, 46, from Renfrew.

They were found guilty of a laundering operation involving �178,125 of drug money.

McDonald and Thomson were a part of Gorman's gang

Gorman claimed he possessed the cash for deals to buy tobacco and fireworks.

Ahmed helped to launder �100,000 and was jailed for seven years.

Lowrie and McDonald were each jailed for four years.

A fifth man, Robert Thomson, 27, from Irvine, admitted being involved in the supply of �12,000 of cannabis.

He was sentenced to 18 months.

Gorman had originally been accused of drug smuggling but the prosecution withdrew that charge due to insufficient evidence.

In June 2005, the SDEA seized a �24m cannabis cargo weighing eight tonnes from a converted trawler called the Squilla off western Spain.

The Squilla was owned by Gorman.

Spanish authorities acted on intelligence from Operation Folklore and the SDEA.

Reid and Price were caught on the Squilla off western Spain

Four men pleaded guilty at a Spanish court on Wednesday to various drug charges.

Skipper Douglas Price, 50, from Kilwinning, was sentenced to four years and crew member William Reid, 44, from Glasgow to three years.

An Estonian and a Moroccan received sentences of three years.

Stephen Ward, of the SDEA, said: "These sentences represent the conclusion of a lengthy operation aimed at disrupting the activities of major criminals who were attempting to import large quantities of controlled drugs into the United Kingdom."