An illegal music operation - based on an Essex farm - allegedly netted two men up to £1 million.

More than 55,000 CDs, 1,200 cassette tapes and 200,000 pieces of artwork and packaging were found at a former chicken shed near Maldon after a swoop by police and trading standards.

The CDs and tapes had been imported from Europe and the United States but a jury at Chelmsford Crown Court heard on Thursday how most of them broke strict music copyright laws.

Alan Williams and Raymond Coppen were members of the gang responsible for bringing the music into the country, the prosecution has alleged.

They refused to name other members of the gang and a third man, known only as Timothy or Phil Smith, is said to be on the run.

Williams, 39, of Wentworth Meadows, Maldon, and Coppen, 45, of Chestnut Avenue, Hatfield Peverel, deny a joint charge of conspiracy to defraud by infringing music copyrights.

David Groome, prosecuting said the case was being brought by the British Phonographic Institute, the music industry watchdog, and it was expected to last six weeks.

He alleged Williams was the leader of the gang which rented a former chicken shed at Jacob's Farm in Goldhanger Lane, Heybridge, and began importing illicit tapes.

In June 1997, police and trading standards officers found "an Aladdin's Cave" of property when they raided the lock-up, Mr Groome told the jury.

Most of the tapes and CDs - including albums by The Beatles and Abba - had been illicitly produced overseas and then shipped into Britain, the court heard.

The trial continues.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.