Gang members who flooded the west of Scotland with up to £200 million worth of heroin and cocaine have been jailed for a total of 119 years, with police claiming a significant victory against serious organised crime.

The network ferried the Class A drugs from Liverpool to Glasgow, initially using the railway before switching to cars. The drugs were then distributed around the city and surrounding towns.

Up to 30 men in both Scotland and England kept the drugs ring running.

Police described it as one of the most high-level crime groups in the country. Officers have spoken of a massive enterprise and the lavish lifestyles of the drug-dealers, funded by the misery of users and communities.

Eight members of the Scottish wing of the operation pled guilty to offences related to the supply of drugs and are expected to be sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday.

They are Alexander Caldwell, 23, Martin Feeley, 28, Michael Cook, 28, Paul Cochrane, 24, and Gary Curran, 43, all of Glasgow, and Thomas Wallace, 43, Terence Mooney, 58, and John O'Donnell, 28, all of Greenock.

Nine of their England-based colleagues appeared at the court yesterday and were given lengthy jail terms for conspiracy to commit drugs offences.

Christopher Welsh, 55, was sentenced to 15 years and four months and his son, Christopher Welsh Jnr, 34, was given 16 years and eight months. The pair, from Liverpool, were described as the ringleaders.

Mark Shields, 45, was jailed for 14 years and eight months; Christopher Amos, 28, received 13 years and four months; James Edmonds, 33, got 13 years and four months; David McIver, 58, Steven Tynan, 37 , and Brian Woods, 51, each received 12 years and Steven Wood, 31, was jailed for 10 years. All are from the Liverpool area.

At the time of the arrests in October last year, Police Scotland's Detective Superintendent Andy Gunn said that Welsh and his son were the "wholesalers" while those in Glasgow were the "retailers".

The network – which involved organisers, couriers and men who ran safehouses – was broken up by police in a series of stings and dawn raids last autumn in conjunction with Titan, the regional organised crime unit in north-west England.

Intelligence gathered by detectives indicated the group made more than 100 trips between Merseyside and Glasgow with the estimated street value of the drugs ferried on these trips being between £100m to £200m.

The Welsh family used the money from their criminal enterprise to fund a lavish lifestyle, including expensive holidays.

On one trip to Mexico, to celebrate a stag party, the pair were photographed wearing T-shirts displaying a tribute to Pablo Escobar, the notorious former Colombian drug baron.

Detective Superintendent Jason Hudson, head of operations for Titan, said the drugs ring was at the very top of the organised crime network.

He added: "This gang were responsible for flooding the streets of Glasgow with incredibly dangerous and damaging Class A drugs, profiting from other people's misery in the process.

"The top tier – the Welshes and Mark Shields – masterminded a massive criminal enterprise which helped them live the kind of comfortable lives most people would envy.

"However the investigation by Titan, with the assistance of Merseyside and Strathclyde police, has resulted in their liberty being taken away today in court."

Det Supt Hudson added: "I am pleased to say there will be no more fancy holidays abroad for these individuals as they face many, many years in prison for what they have done.

"It should serve as a stark warning to other criminals operating across the north-west and beyond, that Titan – as we reach our 1000-mark in prison sentences – will do whatever it takes to put you behind bars."

As well as the eight Scots, another 13 gang members are awaiting sentence.