A Bradford man was jailed for three and a half years today, as a massive police investigation into drug-dealing reached its triumphant climax.

Scott Dunn, 27, was the 20th person to appear before Bradford Crown Court after the two-year probe, codenamed Operation Village, uncovered dealers operating in the Calderdale and Bradford areas.

Sixteen defendants were sentenced last month, with several receiving jail sentences of up to seven and a half years.

Today, Judge Christopher Prince dealt with the final four defendants and praised the courage of undercover officers who risked their lives to root out those involved in the drugs trade.

Dunn, of Windy Grove, Wilsden, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply controlled drugs and possession of ecstasy tablets.

Three Halifax brothers were sentenced a few hours earlier.

Ghulam Maqbool, 21, and Ghulam Kadir, 25, both of Highfield Terrace, were jailed for three years and four months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply. Ghulam Mahboob, 19, of the same address, pleaded guilty to offering to supply drugs. He was placed under a 12-month community order and will have to do 100 hours unpaid work for the community.

Another defendant, Clive Davey, 38, of Wilson Road, Wyke, was last month jailed for five years for two offences of conspiring to supply drugs, but his case could not be reported until now due to a court order.

Sentencing him, Judge Prince said a pre-sentence report had stated that he acted as a broker, or middleman, liaising between drug users and the major dealers. Over a nine-month period, he had set about dealing in larger amounts of the drugs.

Edward Renoize, prosecuting, told today's hearing Davey had supplied Dunn with 9oz of cocaine. Davey later told the undercover police officers he could supply them with a similar amount for £7,750. At Davey's request, Dunn then provided an officer with 1oz of the drug for £880.

When other officers searched a house in Bempton Court, Great Horton, they found cocaine and bags of other drug-linked items which bore the fingerprints of both Davey and Dunn.

Dunn's home was searched and 30 ecstasy tablets were recovered.

Passing sentence on Dunn, the judge said he had been an associate of Davey and had clearly intended to pass the 9oz of cocaine he supplied into the drugs supply chain.

Commending everyone involved in the operation, which was overseen by Detective Superintendent Colin Prime, Judge Prince singled out for special praise the "conspicuous courage" of the undercover officers, known only by their assumed names of Lee, Chris and Paul.

"They went deep into enemy territory," he said. "This takes great courage. Had their cover been blown they would clearly have been at high risk of serious injury or worse."

Those officers had also shown "consummate, professional acting skills" in being able to allay the suspicions of some of the defendants that they might be police.

It was extremely important to realise that without the support of their partners and families those officers could hardly have been expected to undertake, let alone succeed in, their work.

It had been an extremely complicated investigation, but every angle had been covered and every piece of evidence preserved and presented.