Two people involved in organised crime have today been sentenced to a total of eight-and-a-half years for their involvement in a county lines drug dealing operation.
Yasmin Ho, 48, and Austin Murphy, 20, were sentenced at Preston Crown Court after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine.
Ho, of Meetings View, Barrow, was sentenced to five-and-a-half years and Murphy, of Bridge Street, Birkenhead was sentenced to three years.
The defendants were part of a County Lines network branded the MO Line.
Cumbria police identified that a mobile telephone was advertising the sale of heroin and crack to drug users in the Barrow area on April 19.
The phone was being operated from Merseyside.
Investigations into the MO line led officers to the area of Ewan Close, Barrow in Furness.
At 9.50pm on April 19, officers conducted a warrant at Ewan Close, Murphy and Ho were located.
A search recovered just under 500 wraps of class A drugs with a street value of over £5,000.
A spokesman from the Serious and Organised Crime Team said: “This is another positive result in our ongoing fight against those involved in county lines.
“County lines is exploitative drug supply and is devastating to local communities, well beyond those who are directly involved in the local drugs scene.
“We will continue to target those at every level of the supply chain in order to dismantle organised crime groups.
“We continue to urge anyone with knowledge of drug dealing or drug supply in South Cumbria, and Cumbria as a whole, to get in touch.”
