FIVE people have gone on trial accused of being part of a massive drugs conspiracy in Hampshire which allegedly dealt nearly £700,000 worth of class A drugs.

Prosecutors say a gang based in the north of England was supplying cocaine and heroin in towns across the south including Winchester and Southampton.

Drugs would be ferried from the north to the south coast and money would be sent back up to Manchester, Southampton Crown Court heard.

Gerrard Quinn, Paul Williams, Sophia Jones, Pedro Ibanez-Sanchez and Luke Nicholson are accused of being involved in that operation run by a gang called the Manchester Boys or The Manks.

Michael Forster, prosecuting, told the jury how drugs were transported in a number of ways - train, car and even by post.

Cash made from drugs was taken in return journeys back to Manchester or paid into various bank accounts in the south then withdrawn in the north, it is alleged.

The prosecution says between July 2013 and January last year The Manks gang was involved in dealing almost seven kilogrammes of drugs with an estimated street value of £676,000. This had a potential profit of nearly £400,000.

"We're talking about a big money operation," said Mr Forster.

Jurors were told how mobile phone lines, called "deal lines", were set up to contact drug users and buyers and so that users could contact suppliers.

Mr Forster said a Southampton drug user would often be phoning a deal line in Manchester and someone in Southampton would then be arranged to supply the drugs.

He said when drugs arrived on the south coast it was often advertised to potential customers by sending "huge numbers" of text messages in bulk.

One read "Back on with both new food", which Mr Forster said translated as both cocaine and heroin were back on sale.

The jury was told that in 18 months more than 18,000 bulk text messages were sent out advertising drugs on 154 days.

Hire cars were used between Manchester, Southampton and Brighton and to rendezvous points in between such as the Midlands and Oxford, the court heard.

Mr Forster said evidence came from tracking car movements through numberplate recognition on roads, analysis of phone activity and phones themselves and CCTV footage.

Investigators found 70 trips to and from Manchester, which the prosecution says are connected to the gang.

An undercover officer posing as a customer also purchased cocaine and heroin from those dealing on the streets of Southampton.

The court heard how in a search warrant executed at an address in Manchester in May 2014 police found a sawn off shotgun and ammunition in a shed as well as class A drugs.

Quinn, 24, of Kilton Walk, Manchester, Williams, 25, of Piccard Close, Manchester, Jones, 29, of Sykeside Court, Rossendale, Lancashire, Ibanez-Sanchez, 24, of Wallwork Street, Manchester, and Nicholson, 28, of Chiddingly Close, Brighton, are all accused of conspiracy to supply cocaine and conspiracy to supply heroin.

Quinn and Ibanez-Sanchez also face a charge of money laundering.

They all deny the charges.

The trial is expected to last up to 10 weeks.

Proceeding