You'd have thought, by now, that drug dealers would have learned that taking photos of themselves holding the proceeds of their crimes was generally an absolutely terrible idea. That enough people have been caught out this way over the past few years for the message to work its way deep into every shotter's consciousness, no matter how big time or small fry they may be. It's a lesson at the heart of Goodfellas, for christ's sake, a film every self-respecting drug dealer should have seen at least 30 times.

But nope. Yet again a drug gang has gone down after members posed for photos with fat wads of cash and a huge amount of cocaine, reports Wales Online. Cardiff Crown Court heard that defendants Liam Wall, Lee Smith, Connor Morse and Christopher Elgifari helped to run "the busiest drugs line in Cardiff" – attached to a phone number they called the "Lewis Line" – which was "capable of turning over in excess of £6,000 per day". All four admitted conspiring to supply class A and class B drugs between September of 2015 and December of 2016.

Prosecutor Heath Edwards said police seized about £22,000 worth of drugs during their investigation, including 2kg of amphetamine and 1kg of cannabis, and described the gang's operation as "a long-running and lucrative drugs enterprise".

Wall, Morse and Elgifari were apprehended by police in November of 2016 as they drove back to Wales from Liverpool, and officers found around £11,500 worth of drugs in their BMW. All three denied any knowledge, with Elgifari claiming they had been on a "road trip to the mountains".

On Wall's phone, police found incriminating messages and photographs, including one of him holding around £20,000 in cash, and one of Smith weighing up a load of cocaine. After the hearing, lead Detective Constable Rod Lewis said, "Their belief they were untouchable was their undoing. They were happy to pose for photos with large quantities of drugs or cash, which for me as the investigating officer was great evidence."

Wall, 27, was jailed for nine years and seven months; Smith, 28, and Morse, 22, were both jailed for eight years; and 25-year-old Elgifari was jailed for three years and seven months.