A DRUGS boss at the head of a money-laundering operation has been jailed for 22 years.

Jeffrey Hanks, from Bury, was the boss of a drugs operation which stretched from Oldham to the north east of England.

He was jailed at Cleveland Crown Court on December 18, having previously been found guilty of conspiracy to suply class A drugs and money laundering.

Hanks, aged 52, of Greenway Close, was caught after a two-year investigation by Oldham's organised crime team and Cleveland Police.

In that time, police seized cash and drugs worth £250,000 and mixing agents worth more than £3 million.

Dawn Hanks, aged 43, of Greenway Close, Bury, has been convicted of concealing and converting criminal property and will be sentenced at a later date.

Drugs courier Carl Knox, aged 30, of Ripponden Road, Oldham, was today found guilty of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and jailed for four years.

In July 2013, police raided several addresses in Greater Manchester and Cleveland in the second phase of their operation.

The raids took place across Oldham, Rochdale, Tameside and Bury and followed months of work by the two forces to target those suspected of being involved in the Class A drugs trade.

Det Con Gary Lamont said: “The communities of Oldham will no doubt be delighted to see today’s result, the culmination of two years' work.

“These criminals, most of which live in Oldham and Manchester, sold vast quantities of illegal drugs through a network of smaller dealers in the Cleveland area.

“Time and time again, residents were telling us they are fed-up with drug dealers using Oldham as a base to peddle harmful drugs.

"This operation recovered millions of pounds worth of drugs and mixing agents and undoubtedly made a huge dent into stopping the supply of drugs onto the streets of our communities.”

The convictions result from Operation Cobweb, a joint investigation into organised crime groups by GMP and Cleveland Police.