A GANG of nine young people accused of being involved in the trade of hard drugs have had their cases appear at Swindon Crown Court.

The group, aged from 16 to 21 and mostly from London, are accused of conspiracy to supply class A drugs in the town between April and December last year.

Seven defendants appeared in the dock together a few days after the youngest, from London, had been sent to the youth court after admitting the offences.

The ninth, the only defendant from Swindon, was not in court as he was being questioned by police having been arrested for other alleged offences. No charges were put to the six men and one woman in the dock and they did not enter any pleas during the brief hearing.

The eight defendants are the 17-year-old from Oakhurst, 21-year-olds Younathan Frezgi, and Davroy Williams, both of Blackheath, Abdi Mohammed, and Ebenezer Baidoo, both of Eltham, Jonathan Kalala, 19, and a 17-year-old, both of Greenwich, and the only female, Bich Nguyen, 20, from Woolwich.

The case was adjourned to July 25 and all were given conditional bail apart from Nguyen, who was remanded in custody.