Drugs gang based out of Salford used children as crack and heroine couriers

A county lines drugs gang used children to courier heroin and crack cocaine. Now the Salford-based head of the operation has been jailed for seven years.

In total eight people have been jailed for their role in a conspiracy to supply class A drugs in Barrow and Manchester. Police described it as "a complex and far-reaching conspiracy which involved the exploitation of children in order to further exploit local drug addicts primarily in the Barrow area."

The drugs were packaged up in Salford and Manchester then delivered to the Cumbrian port where users had already been alerted to the supply. The group have been convicted of conspiring to supply heroin and crack cocaine between September 2022 and January 2023.

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A court heard how the conspiracy involved the use of children to courier Class A drugs. The County Line was valued by a drug expert as supplying more than £110,000 worth of drugs in Barrow over a four-month period, with a total weight of crack cocaine and heroin of more than 1kg.

The court heard that a leading role in the conspiracy was played by Jordan Baker. In a statement Cumbrian Police said: "His role involved sending out bulk advertisement messages to local drug users, preparing large amounts of Class A drugs for onward sale through 'washing' cocaine into crack cocaine and breaking down weighted amounts of heroin and crack cocaine into deal-ready wraps and co-ordinating the other members of the conspiracy."

Detective Constable Graeme Benson of Cumbria Police's Serious Organised Crime Unit, said: "This was a complex and far-reaching conspiracy which involved the exploitation