THE alleged international scale of a conspiracy to supply cocaine across Oxfordshire and beyond has been detailed in court.

Erald Mema, of Nursery Close, Botley, is currently on trial for two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

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

As the case continued yesterday prosecutors told jurors how police investigators had traced numerous telephone calls made between the group of men from Oxfordshire to Albania.

Continuing to detail the timeline of events during the second half of 2016 between the alleged co-conspirators prosecutor Amjad Malik told jurors that Mema had left the UK and taken an early morning flight to Albania on July 19.

He told the court that not long after numerous phone calls were made to and from alleged co-conspirator Khalad Uddin from a number ending '177' as well as to another man identified as Elsid Kopani.

A number of the calls from the '177' number were picked up by a telephone mast located in Albania, jurors were told.

Mema later flew back to the UK on September 8, the court heard.

The court also heard of widespread police surveillance on the group allegedly involved in the plot, including Khalad Uddin.

Police investigators searched addresses in Oxford and their movements were traced across both the city and the West Midlands, the court heard.

Recorded footage played to the jury of ten men and two women showed a number of men driving to and from locations in Oxford and ‘cell site data’ was read out, linking various contacts between them on what prosecutors termed ‘conspiracy phones.'

Judge Peter Ross, who is presiding over the five-week trial which began last week, told the jury panel that the issue they had to decide was just how involved Mema truly was in the alleged conspiracy.

He said: “No one is suggesting that Mr Mema was present at these events.

“The issue is did he have a role in these events through this communication, was he the one who the crown say was in possession of these phones?

“That is going to be the issue and what part were these phones playing in these events, if any.”

Earlier in the trial, 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 how 'cell site data' and police surveillance placed the men at various locations seemingly meeting up. Jurors were also told that phone numbers regularly changed during the alleged conspiracy.

Mema denies any involvement in the alleged drugs plot and the trial continues.