Police in Cumbria are enjoying increasing success cracking down on Merseyside drugs gangs attempting to exploit the region.

Earlier, the ECHO revealed how Liverpool’s crime groups were flexing their muscles in rural towns from Barrow to Workington, taking over drug networks and setting up new ones.

But while Cumbria serves as both a lucrative market and valuable transport route for local gangs, the low-level foot soldiers working for Mersey drug lords are increasingly being caught.

Highlighting the extent of their illicit influence in Cumbria - and the success of the region’s police in tackling it - here are just a handful of the Liverpool drug dealers dealt with by Carlisle Crown Court.

Dopey drugs mules caught with cannabis

From left to right: Robert Smith, 28; Joseph Broadhurst, 50

Joseph Broadhurst, 50, and Robert Smith, 28, were locked up over £88k of cannabis found in their car as they travelled the M6.

The crooks were stopped near Carlisle and police detected a smell of cannabis inside, eventually finding 8.75kg of the illegal drug stashed inside a sports bag.

Both men admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply.

Broadhurst, of Storrington Avenue, Croxteth, was jailed for 15 months.

Smith, of Coral Avenue, Huyton, was locked up for nine months.

Bungling gang tried to retrieve heroin after car seized

A Merseyside drugs gang was caught trying to retrieve a car with a hidden £1m stash of heroin from a police compound.

The 2kg cargo was hidden in the vehicle, unbeknown to police officers who seized it as it was driven north through Cumbria.

Its driver, trusted courier Dylan Roach, was arrested after a small amount of the designer drug M-cat was found on him.

Oblivious to the heroin stashed inside, police bailed Roach - who was transporting drugs to pay off a cocaine debt - and impounded his Vuaxhall Zafira near Carlisle.

The following day, three Merseyside men - Liam Liversage, 28, Michael Ward and Dean Smith, both 20 - travelled north in a stolen car in a bid to free Roach’s car and retrieve the drugs.

Liversage, 28, of Rodney Street, Birkenhead, Ward, of Mill Lane, West Derby, and Smith, of Meadowfield Close, Birkenhead, had been sent by unnamed bosses desperate to get back their heroin.

But the crooks were caught and arrested as they attempted to escape.

Liversage was jailed for 11 years, while Ward and Smith were sent to youth detention for 10 and nine years respectively after a trial late last year.

All three men admitted conspiring to pervert the course of justice and were convicted of conspiring to supply the hidden heroin.

Roach, 34, of Sharpeville Close, Kirkdale, was jailed for seven and a half years after he changed his not guilty plea to guilty to conspiring to supply drugs.

Dealer used children’s centre as HQ

Anthony Mullen, from Belle Vale, Liverpool, jailed for dealing drugs in Carlisle

Anthony Mullen was jailed for five years for peddling crack cocaine from his HQ at a children’s play centre in Carlisle.

The 29-year-old, from Belle Vale, teased his customers in text messages, reminding them that stocks were “running low”, as he conducted scores of illegal deals.

He was jailed after admitting possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply.

Dealer hid drugs down his pants

Ryan McKevitt, of Ennerdale Avenue, Maghull, was jailed for three years and four months.

Ryan McKevitt was caught with cocaine and heroin down his underpants.

Twenty wraps of cocaine and heroin, all in £20 knotted deal bags, were found concealed on the 22-year-old.

The drug dealer was also found in possession of £825 cash and a lock knife when arrested by police in Kendal, Cumbria.

McKevitt, of Ennerdale Avenue, Maghull, was jailed for three years and four months after he admitted possession of both cocaine and heroin with intent to supply, and possession of a bladed article.

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