A MAN accused of being part of a conspiracy to supply cocaine across Oxfordshire has gone on trial.

Erald Mema, of Nursery Close, Botley, denies two counts of conspiracy to supply the drugs.

Prosecutors at his trial at Oxford Crown Court assert that the 33-year old formed part of an alleged Class-A drugs ring between June 1, 2016, and December 2, 2016.

Amjad Malik, prosecuting, told the jury of 10 men and two women at the start of his trial last week how the conspiracy had extended to a number of others including Khalad Uddin.

He told jurors how his alleged co-conspirator Uddin had been arrested in October where officers found hundreds of thousands of pounds of cash at his Scholars Mews apartment as well as at Little Brewery Street in Oxford.

Mr Malik told the court: “The defendant [Mema] appears to be standing by his not guilty plea and the defence he raises is that he was not aware of either conspiracy and he had no part in it.

“The issue is whether this defendant is a part of that agreement. Has he participated in the supply of wholesale quantities of cocaine that were clearly occurring in that six months?”

As the trial continued today, the first witness in the case Detective Constable Mark Palsey, of the West Midlands organised crime unit, answered questions about the communication between the other men allegedly involved in the drugs plot.

The court heard that 'cell site data' and police surveillance had captured numerous communications between them using what prosecutors called ‘conspiracy phones’ among the men. Jurors were told that the numbers regularly changed throughout the alleged conspiracy.

Mema denies his involvement in the drugs supply and the trial, expected to last five weeks, continues.