The ringleader behind a million dollar methamphetamine ring in central Wellington has been jailed for 17 years.

In the High Court in Wellington, Kevin Chea was given a minimum prison term of eight and a half years, for being the boss of a meth operation run out of a Chews Lane apartment.

A police raid last March found 1.2 kilograms of the drug.

Justice Robert Dobson told Chea his sentence reflects the harm meth causes.

He told him judges are exposed "all too frequently to the huge harm suffered by methamphetamine users, and children who are affected by it."

Kien Dao, Michael Debreceny and Abby Cummins have also been jailed for 15, 9 and 3 and a half years respectively for their roles.