A ruthless gang of armed robbers who opened fire on their victims "for the hell of it" would have killed if left on the streets, police declared today.

Detectives believe the Bradford gang - whose last member was jailed yesterday - were responsible for up to eight separate shootings and 20 hold-ups across the county.

A specially-formed team of 12 officers faced a race against time to cage its members - Imran Ali, Yasser Rashid, Yasser Saleem and Mohammed Javid Akhtar - before a innocent member of the public was murdered.

Yesterday Akhtar, 23, was jailed for three years for his part in a robbery at the Shell service station in Bingley Road, Saltaire, 17 months ago.

Akhtar, of Clayton Road, Clayton, had admitted a charge of robbery but denied playing a part in a violent attack on the kiosk attendant.

After a two-week trial in April, Ali, 22, and Rashid, 23, were both found guilty of conspiring to commit robberies and locked up for 16 years. Saleem, 20, was jailed for ten years after admitting a similar charge.

Officers who were called in to track them - working under the codename Operation Ounce - today spoke of the gang's ruthlessness and how they "believed they were above the law".

While the evidence presented in court focused on six robberies during which four people were shot, the police inquiry examined more than 20 offences involving eight shootings. Detective Sergeant Phil Roberts said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the unsolved crimes and said the series ceased immediately the gang was locked up.

The crimes they were sentenced for included:

A robbery at Raja's Chicken Bar in Whetley Lane, Bradford, in which two workers were shot in the legs.

Shooting the owner of the Wine and Dine store in Otley Road, Bradford, during a raid. Blasting a security guard in the leg at the Legrams Lane Co-op as they ambushed his delivery.

Attacking a 79-year-old man with the blunt end of a machete as he tried to stop them raiding the Heights Lane Post Office in Heaton.

Two men were injured during a shooting at remote house in Halifax.

Det Sgt Roberts said: "Once intelligence pointed to these individuals we had to act fast to get them off the streets because there is absolutely no doubt that they would have killed someone."

Over a five month period, it is thought they were staging "jobs" at the rate of one a week.

"This was an escalation on some of the inquiries we had previously dealt with. These people were prepared to use the weapons they had, on some occasions even if there was no confrontation.

"They shot people for the hell of it."

Despite the extreme violence used, the many of the gangs targets involved relatively small amounts of cash.

"They were people who were trying to behave like gangsters without putting much thought into what they were doing.

"They were not major criminal but local thugs who got together and decided they would use a weapon."

But he added: "They had no fear of the law or the consequences of their actions."

He said rather than ensuring all the gang members were convicted off all the crimes, the team had to focus on the evidence which would get them off the streets as quickly as possible.

Detective Superintendent John Parkinson, who headed Operation Ounce, said: "The people involved in this series of shootings and robberies were prolific and dangerous offenders who we managed to quickly capture and bring to justice."

He added: "The streets of West Yorkshire are a lot safer now these people are in jail.