A MAN said to be linked with three others from East Lancashire has appeared in court in Burnley charged in connection with an alleged £1billion plus drugs plot.

Paul Patrick Hendra, 34, who has been living abroad, was brought to the town's magistrates court on yesterday afternoon.

He faced charges involving the importation and making of ecstasy and the production of amphetamine when he appeared before district judge Susan Jones.

Hendra, who gave his address in court as no fixed abode, was remanded in custody until February 2 for a preliminary hearing at Preston Crown Court.

The defendant is charged that between Jan 1 1999 and Feb 6 2001 in England and elsewhere he conspired together with Wilhelmus Reinoldus Antonius Maria Tunker, Matthew Edward Glover, Thomas Frank Harrington, Anthony Peter Lewis Lockwood and others in knowingly being concerned in a fraudulent evasion of the prohibition against the importation of ecstasy.

He is also accused, between the same dates, that in Arundel or elsewhere, he conspired together with Wilhelmus Tunker and others to produce a quantity of ecstasy.

Hendra is further charged that in Arundel or elsewhere he conspired together with Wilhelmus Tunker and others to produce amphetamine.

The court was told the defendant and his alleged accomplices were said to have had the raw materials to produce ecstasy worth more than £1billion.