A forger whose skills earned him the underworld nickname Hologram Tam was today jailed for six years and four months.

Thomas McAnea was imprisoned for his part in an operation which could have printed millions of pounds worth of bogus banknotes.

McAnea, 57, went back to his trade after dodging a ten year sentence for producing counterfeit cash when a 1998 conviction was overturned on appeal.

When detectives raided his print-shop in the West End of Glasgow they found, among posters of Celtic footballers, a photo of Lord Cameron, judge at the 1998 trial, and a caption: "Go on yersel, Big Man."

At the High Court in Edinburgh today his lieutenant John McGregor, 49 - who was at the controls of a printing press churning out forged £20 banknotes when police burst in - was jailed for four years.

McGregor had been given a five year sentence when he appeared, along with McAnea, in 1998 but was also freed later by appeal judges. Another three members of the gang received sentences of four years each.

Judge Lord Bracadale also jailed a messenger for three years and a Londoner caught with £100,800 in false Euros in his car was jailed for 15 months.

A fashion designer who was cleared of involvement in the cash counterfeiting but admitted making false student ID cards and drivers' licences was ordered to carry out 150 hours community service.

Lord Bracadale told them the police surveillance, searches and seizures "all point to this being part of a sophisticated operation at the top end of the scale of production and distribution."

The judge said confidence in currency was essential and the Glasgow operation had undermined that.

"It is likely to lead to loss being sustained by innocent people who find themselves in possession of these notes, only to discover they are worthless," he added.

The seven had been convicted after an earlier trial - the result of weeks of painstaking surveillance by undercover detectives from the Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency.

Their "Operation Fender" was sparked by concerns from across the Border that forged notes flooding into England came from Glasgow.

When the premises of Print Link, in St George's Road, Glasgow, were raided on January 28, police seized counterfeit notes with a total value of pounds of almost half a million pounds as well as printing plates.

Linked raids to other addresses in the Glasgow area found forged banknotes purporting to be worth hundreds of thousands of Euros.

And an internal investigation throughout the banking system discovered has discovered £672,880 in forged notes to date which police think were the result of McAnea's gang's handiwork.

There were initial difficulties connecting the forgers with the counterfeit Euro notes but the Scottish Police Services forensic experts analysed the dye used and linked them.

A five week trial heard that the printing operation could have produced £1m-worth of forged notes every two to three hours and had the potential to threaten the British economy.

McAnea, from Yoker, Glasgow, admitted mid-way through the trial that he was concerned in the delivering, selling and disposing of fake money between October last year and January.

McGregor, 49, of Lambshill, Glasgow, admitted making fake Bank of Scotland £20 notes between January 27 and 28, 2007, at the St George's Road printshop.

Two other men, Joseph McKnight, 56, of Millerston, Glasgow, and Robert Fulton, 62, from Glasgow, were found guilty by a jury of helping distribute the counterfeit cash.

McKnight was caught delivering almost £7,000 and 7,500 in Euros of forged currency in a car in Great Western Road, Glasgow last November.

Fulton was found with more than £6,000 and 3,000 in Euros of forged notes in his flat in Prince Albert Road, at a garage in Kingsborough Lane and between November, 2006 and January 2007.

Removal firm boss Rodney Cadogan, 39, from London pleaded guilty to having more than 100,000 Euro notes in his hire car - all with the same serial number - when it was stopped on the M73 on November 28 last year.

Steven Todd, 23, of Possilpark, Glasgow, admitted his part as storeman for the gang and fashion designer Maria Campbell, 39, of Old Kilpatrick, West Dunbartonshire, pleaded guilty to possessing computer equipment capable of producing fake Young Scot cards, college identity cards and UK driving licences.

The court heard that police had taken two or three search warrants when they raided properties used by the gang in a bid to avoid repeating the mistakes made a decade before.

McAnea and McGregor stood trial in 1998 accused of being the main players in a plan to swamp the Euro 96 football championships in England with forged bank notes.

The convictions collapsed because of a typing error on search warrants used by Strathclyde Police.

Today, defence advocate Peter Hammond, for McAnea, said that had led to the latest offence.

"That is how McAnea came to be known to those who were minded to exploit his know-how.

"He was asked to do a favour for people. Initially he refused but he was put under a degree of pressure and that became what he interpreted as veiled threats to himself and his family."

McAnea was promised payment - but never got it, the court heard.

Lord Bracadale, passing sentence, told McAnea he had wasted his talents and abilities.

After the sentences, Graeme Pearson, director general of the SCDEA said: "The High Court heard how this counterfeiting gang had the ability to destabilise the British economy as part of a network also linked with criminals across the United Kingdom.

"Counterfeiting is not a victimless crime. It often affects the poorest and most vulnerable in society."