TWO foiled drug deals worth hundreds of thousands of pounds led to the collapse of a gang known as The Firm and the arrest of two of its main players, a court heard.

The deals were set up by the "managing director" of The Firm, Matthew Glover and his right-hand man, Anthony Lockwood, to supply ecstasy tablets.

But they were foiled as part of a police operation codenamed Norfolk led by the National Crime Squad.

A jury at Preston Crown Court was told the deals involved more than 50,000 ecstasy tablets which Glover and Lockwood arranged to supply to other dealers, one in Yorkshire and one in Heysham.

The street value of the drugs totalled more than £500,000.

Glover, 39, of Foxstones Lane, Cliviger, and Lockwood, 41, of Stock Lane, Middop, Gisburn, deny three charges of conspiracy to supply ecstasy, amphetamine sulphate and cannabis resin between September 1, 1999 and February 6, 2001.

Charles Chruszcz QC, prosecuting, said both the foiled deals took place in October 2000 after careful planning between Glover and Lockwood and the other dealers.

Police monitoring of mobile phone calls and bugging of Glover's house meant they knew of the plans and were ready to swoop.

In the first deal a man named Bob Blackburn was arrested with 5,000 ecstasy tablets as he left the car park of a pub in Bradford after allegedly receiving the drugs from Glover.

In the second deal, just a day later, a man called Colin Threlfall was stopped by police on the M65 when 50,000 ecstasy tablets worth £500,000 were found in his car. Threlfall had allegedly met Lockwood in the car park of the Happy Eater in Burnley minutes before being arrested.

The Firm was hit with a further blow when £100,000 worth of amphetamine sulphate allegedly owned by Glover was seized during a raid on a house in Waterbarn Street, Burnley in December.

Lockwood and Glover were both arrested in February.

Earlier, the court heard that Glover had an affluent lifestyle made from profits from drug dealing though he avoided "getting his hands dirty."

(Proceeding)