TWO Tavistock residents have appeared before magistrates in Plymouth charged with conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

Mervin Hyde, 48, and Beth Flower, 28, were arrested after a nationwide investigation into a suspected heroin supply out of Merseyside.

The two Tavistock residents appeared in court alongside 46-year-old Jason Fletcher, from Par, in Cornwall.

The two charges relating to the Tavistock residents state that between May 14, 2014 and June 18, 2015, at Liverpool, they conspired, together with other persons, to supply a quantity of diamorphine (heroin), a controlled drug of class A and conspired, with others, to commit the offence of conspiracy to supply class A drug diamorphine outside England and Wales.

The case will now be heard at Plymouth Crown Court with a preliminary hearing set for July 6. A plea and management hearing was scheduled for September 28.

On Thursday, June 18, 23 arrests were made across Merseyside, South Wales, Devon and Cornwall as part of a Merseyside Police drugs and firearms operation.

The strikes, led by detectives from the force's Matrix Serious Organised Crime (MSOC), saw uniformed officers execute dawn search warrants in Liverpool, resulting in nine arrests.

In simultaneous strikes, officers in South Wales, Devon and Cornwall also searched homes and arrested six people.

The South West regional organised crime unit 'Tarian' and Devon and Cornwall Constabulary assisted the lengthy investigation undertaken by MSOC into the widespread supply of heroin from Merseyside to other areas of England and Wales.