LIVERPOOL man, Curtis Warren, was the head of a gang who planned to smuggle £1m of cannabis into Jersey, it was alleged in court.

The Toxteth-born 46-year-old stands accused with five others of plotting to import the drug to the Channel Island from mainland Europe.

At the island's Royal Court in St Helier yesterday, Crown Advocate Howard Sharp, prosecuting, opened the case against the six defendants to the jury of seven men and five women.

Advocate Sharp told them: "This is a case about organised crime. A case about drugs. A case about a plot to import cannabis into Jersey with a value of half-a-million pounds wholesale and a street value of £1m.

"The prosecution case is that these six defendants conspired to acquire 180kgs of cannabis from drug traffickers in Amsterdam with a view to selling it on the streets of Jersey, your streets.

"The head of the conspiracy, we say, was Curtis Warren, the first defendant. He had significant clout and influence, we say. We say he knew and directed the relevant people in both Jersey and Holland. He orchestrated this conspiracy, which he himself described as 'just a little starter'.

"It was intended that these drugs, once bought in Amsterdam, would be transported by road from Holland across Europe to the Normandy coast.

"The drugs were to be loaded onto boats and brought to Jersey, perhaps under cover of nightfall.