Two East End men, part of a London crime gang, have been jailed for 24 years after police uncovered a drugs factory in Cable Street, Shadwell, last year.

Ashley Martin Huggins, 23, of Carr Street, Limehouse and Shayne Wellington, 25, of Mile End Road, were part of a group found with class A drugs, including heroin and cocaine, with a street value of �11,750 on August 27.

Police had raided a drugs factory, where gang members would cut and mix the class A substances, in a unit in Cable Street Studios.

A loaded handgun and ammunition was also uncovered in the unit’s loft.

Both men will each serve 12 years imprisonment for possession of a loaded firearm, possession with intent to supply of class A and B drugs and possession of stolen property.

They were sentenced on Wednesday following a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court along with a third man from south-east London, Leon Ziya-Williams, 25, of Ceres Road, who was sentenced to seven years and five months on the possession of drugs and criminal property charges.

Two other east Londoners will be sentenced on March 15 - Jacque Michael Skinner, 21, of Garnet Street, Shadwell, on all charges and Jerome Michael Quintyne, 23, of Radnor Walk in the Isle of Dogs, for possession of drugs and criminal property.

Robbery Task Force officers forced entry on the drugs operation after stopping Mr Skinner outside the building.

They also discovered over �10,000 in cash and in the rear of the unit, a bullet-proof vest and a gun cleaning kit.

DS Ross Morrell from Tower Hamlets’ Serious Acquisitive Crime Unit, said: “The removal of this firearm from the streets of London may well have saved lives.”