More than 40 people have been arrested in Droitwich and Bromsgrove in a police drugs investigation codenamed Operation Cleopatra.

Enquiries are continuing into the supply of class A drugs, said Peter Parson, prosecuting at Worcester Crown Court, and mobile phone records have yet to be analysed.

He made the revelations during the case of a 25-year-old Malvern woman who admitted supplying heroin.

But he emphasised that Gemma Morris, of Chevenham Close, Colwall, was on the periphery and not involved in the major conspiracy to supply drugs. She was acting as a courier as a favour for the girlfriend of a man who was in prison.

Richard Bond, defending, said that although Morris was an addict, she had no previous drug convictions.

Morris, who also admitted three charges of shoplifting to fund her drug habit, was remanded in custody for assessment to see whether she is suitable for treatment for her drug addiction.