More evidence was heard into the UK's biggest drugs conspiracy yesterday at Manchester Crown Court.

A Bolton man, Steven Martin, 49, is accused with playing an integral role in setting up conspiracies to smuggle hundreds of millions worth of drugs into the UK from Holland.

Martin, who lived in Chorley Old Road, is said to have controlled the finances of three different drugs smuggling operations, titled 'Pot Fresh, 'Amstelveen', and 'Blackpool Fruit and Veg', named after the bogus companies they set up as a front to transport the drugs from Europe to the UK.

The drugs were initially shipped to warehouses in Tonge and Atherton, before they moved to premises in Leeds for Blackpool Fruit and Veg.

The prosecution, led by Andrew Thomas QC, showed a jury in detail how Martin and another defendant, Paul Green, accused of heading the whole operation, had a vast and highly encrypted communications network to talk to everyone involved with the operations.

All these messages, through devices with "military level" encryption, show that Martin, Green and others were involved in an intricate drugs trade, and not innocent fruit and veg businesses, which the defendants deny.

Martin's involvement ended when he was arrested in March 2018 in connection with the 'Pot Fresh' and 'Amstelveen', disrupting the 'Blackpool Fruit and Veg' conspiracy, however, the drug smuggling did not stop.

Martin had built up substantial wealth from the drug operations at this point, buying himself a brewery and stepping away from hand on involvement with drug trade.

A new conspiracy was set up, called 'Europroduce' which was set up with proceeds from the previous conspiracies ­— the proceeds were in bank accounts controlled by Martin, prosecution say.

Mr Thomas said: "He had a brief involvement at the start of the conspiracy period, sending money to the the UK bank account of one of the Dutch co-conspirators.

"There's no evidence that he had a hands on role in the 'Europroduce' operation.

"He may still have been involved in laundering the proceeds of these offences, but he does not appear to have been actively involved in the drugs importations."

The Blackpool Fruit and Veg and Europroduce conspiracies smuggled hundred of millions worth of heroin, cocaine, cannabis, and MDMA, the prosecution say.

The trial continues.