THREE women drawn into a county lines class A drugs supply operation which saw London crooks target north Cumbrian addicts have been jailed for a total of more than 10 years.
Carlisle Crown Court heard today (THURS) how vulnerable 20-year-old Aneesa Ashraf was despatched by members of an organised crime group to the city from her home in Berkshire.
After arriving on May 8, Ashraf swiftly “set up shop” at the Sheffield Street home of drug user Zoe Pique, who permitted the property to be used in exchange for illegal substances. Heroin and crack cocaine were then touted for sale to other addicts in scores of mass message “text bombs”.
Police keeping watch on that address smashed the supply ring after seeing Pique and her occasional partner, 49-year-old Cheryl Evans, coming out of the flat they shared.
Ashraf was found inside with a bag around her waist which contained class A drugs potentially worth £1,610, plus more than £300 cash.
It emerged Pique was a “trusted point of contact” for a London gangsters known as “Sammy”, of whom she said: “I had no choice. You have to do what he says.” Long-standing drug user Evans told police of being sent out by Ashraf to deal drugs “every 20 minutes”.
All three women admitted conspiracy to supply the class A drugs on May 9, and were sentenced this afternoon.
Ashraf, of Grenfell Road, Maidenhead, was jailed for four years, seven months. She was in breach of a suspended sentenced handed down for previous county lines offending in South West England last year.
Pique and Evans received respective prison terms of 39 months and 31 months.
