UNDERCOVER police officers watched as an alleged member of an international drugs gang paid a wad of £10 notes into a bank account, a court was told.

Officers heard him talking on his mobile phone as he waited in line at the Yorkshire Bank in Heywood.

Eight men, including Bolton man Paul Bell, aged 37, of Hardcastle Apartments, Bradshaw Hall Drive, Bradshaw, are on trial but all deny they smuggled millions of pounds worth of cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines into the North-west.

Det Const Jacqueline Robinson was part of a surveillance team shadowing Gerald McLeish who is alleged to have been the drug "company's" managing director.

Other officers had also followed McLeish's W-registered gold Lexus car to the car park of a Little Chef cafe in Alsager, Cheshire.

There the team watched McLeish meet Christian Wolfendale and Simon Balshaw who have already admitted their role in the multi-million pound smuggling operation.

Earlier observation teams had seen McLeish arrive at his home in Heywood where he found co-defendant Bell waiting on the pavement.

Bell had a black attache case and McLeish was carrying a black canvas bag. Both men went into McLeish's house.

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

After months of investigation, officers raided a unit on Beesley Industrial Estate in Radcliffe where they discovered a massive haul of drugs worth around £4 million.

The jury heard earlier how containers half-filled with engine spare parts were sent to the Continent by a company called Augustus Services, where they were collected.

The prosecution alleges that they were returned with drugs hidden inside to industrial units in Radcliffe and Failsworth.

Together with Bell, the men involved in the case are 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.

All deny two charges of conspiracy to sell Class A and conspiracy to sell Class B drugs.

(Proceeding)