A county lines drugs operation which saw two young boys acting as runners distributing crack cocaine and heroin on the streets of Gloucestershire has been brought down.

Three men were sentenced at Gloucester Crown Court on Monday, January 21, for their roles in the conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

Thai Carlyle, 18 and from West Bromwich and Niall Mclean, 19 and from Birmingham, were both sentenced to six years in a youth detention centre.

Rushaun Pyne, 19, and from Birmingham, had acted as driver and was given a two year suspended sentence and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

The young male runners who were working for the men were 14 and 15 when they were found in the flat of a vulnerable drug user in Mersey Road in Cheltenham in March last year.

In a coordinated sting by the Gloucestershire Constabulary's Force Crime Operations Team, officers raided the property and arrested Carlyle, Mclean and Pyne, who had been bringing the drugs from Birmingham.

Carlyle and Mclean had ruthlessly taken over the flat from its previous occupier in a practice known as 'cuckooing'.

The occupant, a vulnerable woman, was forced onto the streets.

Over £600 of crack cocaine and heroin was found on the men and officers were able to analyse their phones to find evidence that class A drugs had been dealt in the town.

DC Craig Openshaw said: "The impact of county lines enterprises is clearly highlighted by this sad case.

"These young boys were found in a filthy drugs den and had clearly been spending most of their time distributing crack and heroin on the streets of Cheltenham.

"It's been established that they have been exploited so they now face no further action.

"Thankfully one boy is back in a family setting and both are receiving support from youth services to get their lives back on track.

"Their role was to deliver drugs to vulnerable drug users in the town at the request of the older men. The older men sent messages from their mobile phone (the 'county line' in this case - given the name "Rick") to those vulnerable drug users in an attempt to corner the local market.

"We suspect they were bringing hundreds of pounds worth of drugs into the county on a daily basis so you can see that it would have been very profitable for them.

"Sadly, the whole situation would have just worsened the plight of those vulnerable users.

"The taking over of the flat also badly affected the previous occupant's life, making her prospects far worse.

"Tackling county lines is a priority for us and we're pleased that because of the great work of the Force Crime Ops Team we have been able to take this line down."

Anyone with information about County Lines can call 101 or report it via our online reporting form that can be found here: www.gloucestershire.police.uk/operations/operation-tarak/ 

Alternatively Crimestoppers can be called anonymously on 0800 555 111.