Jailed: County lines drug dealers supplied Mid Wales town with crack cocaine and heroin

Devonn Weston and Blake Sharpe ran supply lines as far as Wales from the West Midlands.

They both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs at Birmingham Crown Court.

Weston and Sharpe, both aged 23, ran several drug lines, supplying the narcotics as far as Nuneaton, Tamworth and Llandrindod Wells.

Weston, of Jackson Street, Oldbury, was sentenced to six years and eight months, while Sharpe, of Shrubbery Avenue, Tipton, was handed a jail term of six years.

In analysed phone calls, text messages and CCTV gathered by West Midlands Police, text messages sent out from the dealers' drug lines used coded terms to confirm the sale of crack cocaine and heroin. Police said they used coded names like the 'Nunny' line and the 'Alex' line.

Examination of messages showed Sharpe actively trying to recruit young people to 'go out of town' and be involved with drug dealing.

A spokesperson from the force said: "We charged both men with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. Weston and Sharpe both pleaded guilty to the charge when they appeared at Birmingham Crown Court."

Police stopped Weston as he was driving on July 14. Following the arrest a warrant was issued for an address in Tamworth, where class A drugs, cash and scales were found. Shortly after that Sharpe handed himself into police.

The force found evidence of multiple drug "lines", where both Weston and Sharpe would exploit vulnerable homeowners into supplying drugs from the premises – drug lines were found in Tamworth,

Chief Inspector Tom Hadley, from West Midlands Police Force CID, said: "County lines drug dealers ruin lives and our officers from the Regional County Lines Taskforce worked hard to stop Weston and Sharpe and bought them to justice.

"County lines gangs should know they are in our sights and our work goes on 24/7 throughout the year to stop them and get them off our streets."