A DRUGS gang that flooded Gwent with amphetamines and cannabis has been ordered to forfeit more than £200,000 in profits.

The confiscation orders against five of the £1 million gang, headed by Dean Sullivan, of Pen-y-Groes, Oakdale, were made at Newport crown court.

Sullivan, who made a net profit of £544,000 in drug dealing, had realisable assets of £60,500 forfeited.

The 13-strong gang were given sentences totalling more than 30 years in March for bringing in the drugs from London.

The gang made a net profit of £954,684 by supplying drugs in Newport, the Gwent valleys and across South Wales.

Sullivan, 34, and other gang members were arrested after ten months' surveillance by detectives in Operation Verona.

Another gang member, Patrick Callaghan, aged 37, of Albert Street, Bargoed, benefited by £377,000.

Callaghan, described as a "prime mover" in the conspiracy, was required to forfeit £133,500 - the cash seized from him by the police at the time of his arrest.

Gavin Harris, aged 27, of Fochriw, benefited by £23,000 and £825 was forfeited.

The court heard Sullivan's girlfriend, Melanie Christensen, aged 27, of Church Street, Aberbargoed, made no financial profit and was not made the subject of a confiscation order.

Tyrone France, 36, of Bedlinog, benefited by £47,000 and £12,000 was forfeited.

Paul Goode, 36, of Bargoed, benefited by £2,820 and £2,500 was forfeited.

Another gang member, Clifford Brown, from London, will have his confiscation hearing in September.

All gang members were sentenced after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply amphetamines and cannabis.

Sullivan and Callaghan were sentenced to five years in prison each. Christensen received 16 months' custody, Goode and France received three years each, and Harris received 18 months.

One of the officers in the case, DC Tyrone Broome, said after the confiscation hearing: "We are happy with the decisions of the court, which brings a satisfactory conclusion to the case." He said if further assets belonging to the defendants came to light in the future, then more cash could be confiscated by the courts.

DC Broome said the gang were concerned with supplying dealers in South Wales with drugs from London.

After sentence was passed on the gang at Cardiff crown court, Detective Chief Inspector Steve Webber, who led Operation Verona, said: "The street value of these drugs was over a million pounds.

"This must send the message out to people who want to deal drugs in Gwent that we have the resources to respond to any activities and get the right results."