DETECTIVES have welcomed the seven-year prison sentence handed to a drug dealer described as the leader of an "organised crime group".

Detective Chief Inspector Laurie Whitby-Smith, from Staffordshire Police's serious organised crime department, said there would be far less cocaine in Stoke-on-Trent as a result of the capture and jail sentence of Damien Miller.

DCI Whitby-Smith said: "As far as we were concerned, he was the head of an organised crime group.

"We have disrupted that whole organisation.

"He came to our attention as an individual who was very much an undesirable and problem person in Stoke-on-Trent, who used his position to distribute drugs in the city.

"We were aware that he was a significant dealer and the force is committed to removing individuals of his type from the community."

Miller was identified by an undercover police officer working on Operation Nemesis. Although Miller never sold drugs to the detective known only as "Baz", he was well known to him and it was Baz who alerted police to the drug deal taking place on May 13 last year.

The cocaine, after it had been cut with Benzedrine, would have had a street value of £88,000, which police say would have contributed to wrecking lives across the city.

DCI Whitby-Smith said: "It was a complex investigation undertaken by the serious crime department.

"We recognise the effect that cocaine has on people's lives, the violence and crime that goes along with it.

"Cocaine has a damaging effect on families and communities. As the judge said, it causes untold damage and misery.

"We hope the public can take some reassurance and satisfaction now that Miller is in jail.

"There's no doubt that cocaine is available in Stoke-on-Trent but we have put pressure on by stemming that supply.

"There's no doubt it is harder to supply that sort of drug as a result of these arrests."