Old Bailey: Three members of a West African gang, which brought terror to the streets of Lewisham over control of the heroin trade, have been jailed for a total of 43 years.

Edwin Appiah, 24, Desmond Black, 22, and Richmond Oduku, 23, were part of the African Crew, a group of violent criminals who used guns to defend their heroin and crack trade from rival gangs.

The Old Bailey heard the gangsters mixed heroin with caffeine and paracetamol and compressed the blocks, which were worth £100,000, at safe houses in north London.

The men had clashed 17 times with other gangs after Appiah's brother was killed in 1998 by rival drug dealers.

The feud burst onto the streets of Lewisham on January 28 last year when Oduku was involved in a shoot-out.

Eyewitnesses told police they saw the 23-year-old exchange fire with another black man in Ennersdale Road. Oduku was hit in the groin.

Following the incident, detectives mounted a massive surveillance operation called Operation Legacy and, on August 9, raided addresses in Bushey Heath and Barnet. They found all the tools of the drugs trade as well as 9mm pistols, a 9mm submachine gun and a .22 revolver.

Prosecuting, Richard Horwell QC said: “Submachine guns and bullet-proof vests are symbols of war zones. But when they become the stock-in-trade of criminals, it is plain that for them and society crime has got out of control.”

Oduku, of Thomas Dibb Mews, Beckton, east London, was jailed for 15 years, Black, of Alexander Close, Barnet, got 12 years and Appiah, of Clarence Close, Bushey Heath, got 16 years.

A fourth member of the gang, Derek Hall, aged 24, of Greenway Close, Barnet, who admitted conspiracy to possess firearms and conspiracy to supply drugs, is due to be sentenced this week. Sentencing the three, judge Timothy Pontius said: “I would have had a great deal more respect if, like Derek Hall, you had the strength and courage to admit your responsibilities.”

Operation Legacy head Detective Chief Inspector John Corrigan said: “People in south London can feel their streets are a little safer for them being in prison.”