A criminal whose six strong gang plotted to bring huge quantities of illicit drugs into north Cumbria has been jailed.

Joshua Oruche, 23, was yesterday jailed for five and a half years after a court heard how Cumbria police smashed a drug running operation which went on over five months last year. One of the gang was caught red-handed.

The five other conspirators were sentenced to a total of almost 30 years in prison at Carlisle Crown Court last month.

At the same court yesterday, Judge Peter Davies heard about the role played by Oruche, who admitted conspiring to supply class B cannabis, and offering to supply class A heroin.

Police say his fellow Carlisle-based co-conspirator - 52-year-old Shaun Pattie - made 24 separate journeys to Merseyside and back to collect vast quantities of drugs. These were destined for the streets of Carlisle and Penrith.

Among the other illegal substances said to have been transported into Cumbria during the conspiracy were cocaine and ecstasy.

Jailing Oruche, of Gilbert Street, Liverpool, Judge Davies said of his offending: "This was a significant amount of cannabis regularly brought, in the summer last year, into this county - and it must stop."

The drug-running operation was uncovered when police pulled over Pattie's car he drove north along the M6 near Penrith on his way back from Liverpool.

Hidden inside his Carlisle bound Renault police officers found a heroin consignment of unusually high purity, which if divided up into street deals would have been worth £37,500.

Pattie, of Botcherby Avenue, Botcherby, Carlisle, admitted conspiring to supply cocaine, heroin, Ectasy, and cannabis. He was jailed for seven years and four months.

The biggest sentence – 10 years and four months - was handed down to his fellow conspirator, 30-year-old Kevin Laidlaw, from Hawick. He admitted conspiring to supply cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and cannabis.

Oruche provided the Liverpool connection, arranging the supply of cannabis from Merseyside to north Cumbria.

Leah Kennedy, 21, of Merith Avenue, Botcherby, admitted conspiring to supply cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis, and supplying heroin. She was jailed for six years.

Kennedy was in debt to Oruche, who offered to supply her heroin cheaper than other suppliers.

Nineteen-year-old Andrew Stevenson, of Argyll Drive, Carlisle, who admitted conspiring to supply cocaine, Ecstasy, and cannabis and offering to supply Ecstasy, got four years.

Daniel Weaver, of Sewell Road, Carlisle, was jailed for two years after he admitted conspiring to supply cannabis and two counts of offering to supply amphetamine.

At the sentencing of the others in the gang, Judge Davies said Merseyside drugs criminals were trying to take more control of the illicit drugs trade in Cumbria, fueling crime.