A man has been sentenced for his role in an organised crime group who flooded Barrow with heroin and crack cocaine.
Kriston Marshall, 26, from Surrey Road, Dudley was sentenced to a seven year custodial sentence at Barrow Crown Court for offences committed in Barrow and the Southampton area.
Cumbria police ran ‘Operation Titanic’ from December 1st 2017 until April 2018 which targeted an Organised Crime Group who had links in London, Manchester and Preston. This was a proactive County Lines investigation which seen several persons imprisoned for their roles. This included two key members of the group which were sentenced on the 12th October 2018 to seven year’s imprisonment for their leading roles.
Marshall was responsible for the trafficking of drugs to Cumbria on behalf of the Organised Crime Group, he took responsibility for collecting money and returning this to the lead figures in this drug supply chain.
Marshall was directly involved between the 21st April and 23rd 2018, detectives were able to show the extent of his involvement over the two days which subsequently culminated in his arrest on the 23rd April 2018 following officers attending a report of a road traffic collision in the Kendal area. The driver of the vehicle, Marshall initially provided false details to the police and continued to do so until he was arrested for driving offences. When conveyed to custody and searched he was found in possession of £1000 cash and train tickets showing travel from London, Preston to Roose.
Following further police enquiries Marshall was arrested in November 2018 and subsequently charged and remanded in custody, his trial commenced in early 2019 where he told a jury that he came to Barrow for the purposes of purchasing a car. He denied any links to criminality and key members of the Organised Crime Group however the jury unanimously found him guilty of conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine.
A spokesperson from the Area Drugs Unit said: “This sentencing brings ‘Operation Titanic’ to a conclusion. This was a very sophisticated and complex inquiry that took many hours of dedicated work from both uniformed and detective officers within the south of the county. Prosecuting criminals who target some of our most vulnerable members of the community by bringing illicit drugs into the area is a key priority for police and operations such as this will continue.
“We will target those at all levels of the criminality from locals who facilitate the groups to those at the upper echelons who run such enterprises and exploit others.
“The sentence today should act as a deterrent to those involved in such organisations, Marshall was involved within the group for only two days and this reflects the actions Cumbria police will take on anyone how s involved in the supply of drugs.”
