Three men caught leaving a drug factory flat with more than £150,000 worth of cocaine were jailed for a total of 35 years on Monday.

They had been watched for several months by members of Scotland Yard's drug squad and were said to be part of a large operation involving crack cocaine, heroin, opium and other substances.

At a trial at Isleworth Crown Court Josa Montoya of Temaire Place, Brentford, admitted conspiring to possess and supply cocaine, two similar charges relating to crack cocaine and opium, and one of possessing counterfeit £20 notes found in the Ealing flat. He was jailed for 10 years. Montoya was given credit by the judge for his guilty pleas.

Ceri Stokes, 35, of Arlington Close, Maidenhead, was also found guilty of conspiring to possess and supply cocaine, and jailed for 10 years.

Malik Ford, 35, described as a career criminal' from the Bedford area, was found guilty of conspiracy to possess and supply cocaine and occupying a flat in Uxbridge Road, Ealing, which was being used for the production and supply of class A drugs in February last year. He was jailed for 15 years.

The three men were seen to arrive at the Ealing flat in a hired Mercedes and to emerge some 90 minutes later carrying something, prosecutor Kate Blumgart, told the court.

Montoya used a key to open the flat and Ford was driving the car. Police stopped the car and arrested them.

In the back seat of the vehicle was a rucksack containing three taped packages found to be cocaine worth about £150,000.

Officers then searched the flat and more cocaine, various chemicals, other drugs and drug paraphernalia were found along with fingerprints and DNA from the three defendants, said counsel. These included crack cocaine, cocaine, opium and 15 counterfeit notes.

Montoya's home address in Brentford was searched and "packaging identical to that found on the drugs, was found along with heat-sealed bags, rolls of brown parcel tape and five mobile phones," said counsel.

Counsel for all the defendants said they were linked through the music business and suggested they were on the fringes of the drug world.

But jailing Ford, Judge Hezlett Colgan said he "begged to differ" describing him as a "career criminal".