PHONE calls and meetings between members of an alleged gang of international drug smugglers, were continually monitored by undercover police officers, a court was told.

Movements of cars and vans to an industrial estate in Radcliffe were monitored and filmed by hidden video cameras.

The comings and goings of various vehicles at Bealey Industrial Estate were usually followed by a flurry of phone calls between alleged gang members.

Paul Bell, aged 37, of Hardcastle Apartments, Bradshaw Hall Drive, Bolton, Gerald McLeish, aged 42, of Clifton Close, Heywood, Paul Earle, aged 31, of Bradway Road, Huyton, Merseyside, Ian Longden, aged 38, of Ridgeway Street, Ancoats, Manchester, Paul Dunn, aged 34, of Beech Avenue, Prescott, Merseyside, Christopher King, aged 38, of Walsingham Avenue, Middleton, Nigel Hughes, aged 33, of Cricket Close, Chapelfield, Coventry, Paul Wyatt, aged 38, of Mancroft Road, Caddington, Bedfordshire, are on trial at Bolton Crown Court. All deny two charges of conspiracy to sell Class A and conspiracy to sell Class B drugs.

The jury watched video clips taken by a hidden camera of vehicles and men arriving at unit 8 at Bealey Industrial Estate in Radcliffe.

They also heard of how many phone calls, some of only a few seconds, were made between the defendants, when vehicles arrived and left the Radcliffe premises.

The court heard previously that the gang had allegedly smuggled cocaine, cannabis and ecstasy from Belgium and Spain with a street value of up to £200m in the months prior to their arrest.

After months of investigation, officers raided a unit Beesley Industrial Estate in Radcliffe where they discovered a massive haul of drugs worth around £4.1m.

Police recovered eight kilos of cocaine, 315,371 ecstasy tablets, 45.5 kilos of amphetamine and 27 kilos of cannabis, plus a small amount of crack cocaine, from the units.

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