THREE women were drawn into a “county lines” class A drugs supply operation which saw London crooks target north Cumbrian addicts.

Carlisle Crown Court heard 20-year-old Aneesa Ashraf - described as “vulnerable” - was sent by an organised crime group to Carlisle from her Berkshire home.

After arriving on May 8, Ashraf swiftly “set up shop” at the Sheffield Street home of drug user Zoe Pique, who allowed the house to be used for dealing.

Heroin and crack cocaine were offered to other addicts in scores of mass message text bombs, the court heard.

Police who were watching the property smashed the supply ring after seeing Pique and her occasional partner, 49-year-old Cheryl Evans, leaving their flat.

Ashraf was found inside with a bag around her waist which contained class A drugs potentially worth £1,610, as well as £300 cash.

It emerged that Pique was a trusted contact for a London gangster 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 that she had been sent out by Ashraf to deal drugs every 20 minutes.

Prosecutor Brendan Burke said the Carlisle conspirators were rewarded, usually by being given small amounts of class A drugs by Ashraf.

All three women admitted conspiracy to supply the class A drugs on May 9.

Tim Evans, defending Cheryl Evans, spoke of her “carrot” being free drugs, adding: “The stick [was ] worrying about sophisticated gangsters in London issuing threats.”

David Wales, for Pique, said that she was no longer using drugs and she now recognised that a lengthy prison sentence was inevitable.

Ashraf, of Grenfell Road, Maidenhead, was jailed for four years, and seven months. Her offence put her in breach of a suspended sentenced handed down for previous county lines drug offending in South West England last year.

Pique and Evans were respective jailed for 39 months and 31 months.

Judge Nicholas Barker said to Ashraf: “You may be vulnerable but that vulnerability has to be tempered by your knowledge and awareness of the operation.”

He said of those lower down the county lines criminal chain: “They protect those who are most involved in the supply of drugs in this way.”

The prosecution was the latest in a series of successful Cumbria Police operations, designed to smash slick county lines drug dealing - operations in which criminals use mobile phones to expand their business into smaller communities.

Criminals from cities such as London and Liverpool have repeatedly exploited Carlisle drug users, taking over their homes to set up local drug-dealing dens. They use mass-marketing, texting drug ads to local addicts.