These are the faces of the Black Country Gang who stole more than £1 million worth of goods and tractors.

Nine of the men were sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court last week and a tenth was dealt with in a separate hearing – between them they were locked up for more than 30 years for conspiracy to commit theft.

In sentencing in the main, Judge Michael Chambers QC said none of the nine men played a minor role in the operation, between October 2019 and February 2022 – all had a significant or leading role.

Several members of the group took part in 19 raids during that time, often using a white Scania tractor unit, before breaking into mainly large businesses on industrial estates and trailers and taking the stock they contained. The court heard it was so well planned that most of them lasted less than ten minutes.

In a raid, at Globex Transport in Walsall in the early hours of July 1, 2021, £20,000 worth of toilet paper which was due to be delivered to Poundland was stolen as people were stocking it during the coronavirus pandemic.

In another raid in Walsall and one in Willenhall they stole more than £190,000 worth of copper and in the Telford incident the court heard they returned to the scene of their first crime to look for more bikes. The tractor trailers they stole and usually abandoned were worth an average of £16,000.

Other items taken included baby milk worth £50,000 for an operation in Oldbury, gin and other alcohol, galaxy chocolate, a dehumidifier and other industrial equipment, and in Telford, electric bicycles worth £47,000.

Various members of the gang played different roles in the operation, which also involved locations in Lancashire, Northamptonshire and Devon – some had initially pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit theft, but changed their plea on the day of the trial.

Judge Chambers told the group: “This was a well-organised conspiracy to steal truck trailers and expensive merchandise in planned attacks.

‘In total, the amount of goods and trailers taken was estimated at almost £2 million, but when you take into account the costs of higher insurance premiums and security, it was much higher.

“Some of you were arrested at the scene of an incident and still continued to commit offenses – all 19 raids had required a lot of advance planning, as well as technical knowledge and the use of equipment later found in a number of used vehicles.

“Cutting fences on the spot, disabling trackers and in one case breaking into a key safe to gain access to a tractor-trailer, it was clear you all knew exactly what you were doing.”

“It was a sustained and sustained operation, mainly disrupting large businesses on industrial estates, most of which were transporting goods vital to the supply chain of the UK economy.”