When police swooped on a vehicle in a medical centre car park in the dead of night they found women involved in dealing drugs.
Michelle Teresa Matwychuk ran off from officers but was caught nearby and found in possession of a mobile phone containing texts about dealing.
Also in the car was a 23-year-old London woman who was working as a drug dealer for a "county lines" criminal gang based in the capital.
Although initially charged along with Matwychuk, an investigation by the Home Office concluded she she been trafficked to Swansea by the gang, and was a victim of modern slavery.
Swansea Crown Court heard that just after midnight on August 6 police responded to reports of women smoking drugs in a white Ford car in the car park of Brynhyfryd medical centre.
Jim Davis, prosecuting, said when they arrived officers saw a Ford C-Max vehicle containing three females.
The driver, 38-year-old Matwychuk, ran away but was chased and caught by officers.
In the back of the Ford were two women, including a young woman from London.
The court heard that inside the vehicle were uncapped needles, pieces of burnt foil, and a homemade crack pipe.
Wraps of cocaine were found near where the passengers had been sat.
Matwychuk's home in the Plasmarl area of the city was searched, and officers uncovered a quantity of cannabis from a bedroom.
Mr Davis said the defendant's phone was checked and found to contain "material relating to the supply of Class-A drugs", including texts where she was offering to drive people around in return for drugs.
Officers found one of the numbers saved on her phone was that of a London-based county lines drug gang. The Londoner had the same gang's number in her phone.
Matwychuk, of Essex Terrace, Plasmarl, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine, and the possession of cannabis, when she appeared in the dock via videolink from prison for sentencing.
She has previous convictions for shoplifting, battery, driving with excess alcohol, and possession of Class-C drugs.
The court heard the background of the London woman arrested with Matwychuk had been examined by the Home Office, and had been deemed to be victim of modern slavery who had been trafficked to Swansea by the gang to work for them.
David Singh, for Matwychuk, said his client provided accommodation for the Londoner but had no idea she had been trafficked to Swansea.
He said she had battled a heroin addiction for "many, many years", but while being held on remand in prison had returned a series of negative drug tests and was undertaking educational courses in a bid to find work when she is released.
Judge Geraint Walters told Matwychuk it was clear she was the link between the woman working for the London gang and the "local market", offering accommodation, transport, and local knowledge.
He said Class-A drug wreck lives and blight communities, and the public were no doubt grateful for the success police were having in tackling it.
Giving the defendant a discount for her guilty pleas he sentenced her to three years for each of the two Class-A trafficking offences, and six months for the possession of cannabis - all the sentences will run concurrently making an overall sentence of three years.
Not guilty verdicts to charges of drug trafficking in the case of the woman from London arrested with Matwychuk were formally recoded given her status as a victim of modern slavery. The third woman in the car was not charged.
