THE final member of a major drugs gang who were dramatically arrested at gunpoint on a Southampton street was today starting a five and a half year jail term.

Rico Tracey, 25, was heavily in debt and invited to join the gang by his cousin, Myles Harris.

Southampton Crown Court heard how he had acted as the warehouseman for the heroin and crack cocaine and the money from their sales on the city streets.

Dumfounded residents watched from their windows as the Daily Echo captured the moment when armed police swooped on the team, tying their hands behind their backs as they lay on the pavement in Northbrook Road.

Police also formed road blocks as the drama unfolded under the Operation Fortress initiative, the £2m campaign that had only been launched a few weeks earlier by Hampshire police in their battle against drug suppliers in the city.

Jurors had heard how nearly £40,000 in cash, thousands of pounds worth of hard drugs as well as live ammunition were recovered when police targeted two houses in Northbrook Road last July.

Yesterday Tracey, of no fixed abode, was sent to prison after he had been convicted of conspiring to supply crack cocaine and heroin. He had denied both charges.

Tracey had acted as a runner for the gang, helping to organise the transport and distribution of the drugs that came from London, and collect money from their sale in Southampton.

He fled back to London after stealing a bike in Southampton but was arrested a couple of days later.

Judge Peter Henry told Tracey: “Your motivation was purely financial. You were aware of the scale of the operation.

This was a conspiracy that lasted over a period of time.”

In mitigation, Nicholas Goss said that after his conviction, Tracey now fully accepted his role in the conspiracy.

“He came into it at the invitation of his cousin because he was going to be a father for the second time and needed money. His cousin traded on that point. Without being rude, he is poorly educated and lived on benefits for most of his life.”

At the previous hearing, Harris, 23, from London, was jailed for ten years; Majid Mirza, 32, of Northbrook Road, got seven years; his brother Tamoor Mirza, 30, also of Northbrook Road, received five and a half years; Philip Bruce, 26, from London, was jailed for four years; Darren Anders, 25, from Northbrook Road, was handed a three-year term, and Gary Banton, 20, from London, got 32 months, for their respective roles in the conspiracy.