The day the Cub Scouts got their drugbuster badge

But unfortunately for one sharp-eyed pack, there is so far no stumbling- on- a- big- stash- of- heroin- and- getting- its- owners- sent- to- jail badge.

While hiking in woods, the boys aged from eight to 11 found a coffee jar and plastic lunchbox filled with measured wraps of the drug worth £23,000 on the street.

They alerted Akela, their adult leader, who called the police. It proved to be the evidence that detectives needed to bring cousins Simon and William Hall to justice. Yesterday, as the two men were beginning lengthy jail sentences, the youngsters were praised for their actions.

"Their find showed us how organised and deeply involved the men were," said PC Tim Gargett of Durham Police. "We're very appreciative."

The boys were camping at Denton, near Darlington, in July last year when they went for a walk in nearby woods to learn about the area and the skills that would be needed to survive while camping in such an environment.

The drugs had been hidden there and at a number of other locations by the cousins who visited daily before heading to Darlington, Shildon and Bishop Auckland to supply dealers. Police surveillance teams had

watched them visiting plantations and woods around Darlington ever since October 2005 but each time they went to arrest them they were unsuccessful.

The cousins would either swallow the drugs before they could be seized or give police the slip during high-speed pursuits as they travelled towards or away from areas where the drugs were stashed.

But the find by the Cubs proved to be the missing link and confirmed to detectives that the men were heavily involved in the highscale operation.

The pair were eventually arrested in November when they were detained at a post office after a visit to a stash near Stressholme Golf Course, near Darlington.

Simon Hall, 35, attempted to swallow three- quarters of an ounce of the drug, with a street value of approximately £2,300. Although half of it was recovered from his mouth, he overdosed on the rest, almost dying in hospital, Teesside Crown Court was told.

He was jailed for six years after admitting conspiracy to supply heroin.

William Hall, 26, was handed a three-and-a-half year sentence after he pleaded guilty to being concerned in supplying heroin over the same period. The pair are both from Darlington.

The police decided not to give precise details of the Cub group and their whereabouts amid fears that it could lead to revenge attacks from those involved in the drugs trade.

A spokesman for the Scout Association said: "We are very proud of the boys. They clearly did the right thing."