A gang member from Chadwell Heath has been jailed for nine years after he and his accomplices were found with two kilograms of cocaine.

Mark Lambie, 48, of Whalebone Grove, pleaded guilty on Friday, March 8 to supply of Class A drugs and he was sentenced at Blackfriars Crown Court on Friday, September 20 to nine years in prison.

Ben Hamill, 43, of Buckingham Road, Richmond-upon-Thames, also pleaded guilty on Wednesday, April 17 to supply of Class A drugs and he was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison.

A third man, Jamal Primus, 38, of Felixstowe Road, Tottenham, was found guilty on Monday, July 29 of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs (cocaine). He will be sentenced on Tuesday, October 1.

On Friday, January 25, officers from the Met's Specialist Crime North Proactive Syndicate conducted a proactive operation targeting a group of gang members from north London.

Officers observed Lambie and Primus arrive at a pub on Ship Lane in Mortlake in separate vehicles.

A short time later, Hamill arrived and handed Lambie a white bag. The men then left the location and officers later carried out a stop of two vehicles, including the car Lambie and Primas were travelling in, on Seven Sisters Road, N4.

Two kilos of cocaine were recovered and the men were arrested.

On Tuesday, January 29, Hamill was arrested and a search of his address revealed 15 sets of packaging containing cocaine residue, identical to the packaging found wrapped around the cocaine seized on January 25.

Det Insp Pete McDonald, from the Met's Specialist Crime Command, said: "This successful operation has seen a significant amount of cocaine removed from the drugs market. Thanks to the dedication of my team, these gang members have been removed from the streets of London and will now serve lengthy sentences.

"Drugs destroy lives and fuel crime and violence in our communities. We will not stop in our efforts to robustly target this kind of criminality and I hope the sentencing serves as a stark reminder to those involved in drugs offences."