A DOZEN men have appeared in court accused of being involved in a £60m cocaine drugs ring.

They include 36-year-olds Darren Taylor, of Hayes Wood Avenue, Bromley, and Nicholas Johnson and Paul Collins, both of Seymour Drive, Bromley, who are all charged with one count of conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Johnson is also charged with conspiracy to kidnap on or before April 19 last year.

More than a tonne of cocaine, believed to be mainly from Columbia, is said to have been smuggled into the UK during an eight-year period.

The 12 were arrested in June during a series of dawn raids at 19 addresses across London and Kent.

More than 100 police officers were involved in the early- morning operation.

The men appeared in custody at Blackfriars Crown Court on August 24.

They spoke only to answer their names before the hearing was adjourned for legal reasons.

Judge Aidan Marron then said the men should remain in custody.

They are due to return for a plea and case management hearing on December 1.

Ford Sexton, aged 50, of Lombardy Drive, Maidstone; Mark Schofield, aged 46, of no fixed address, and Terry Wilmot, aged 32, of Clifford Road, Ponders End, north London, are also charged with one count of conspiracy to supply cocaine.

William Pena, aged 42, of Boyles House, Chalk Hill Road, Wembley, and Dean White, aged 40, of Waldo Road, Harlesden, north-west London, face the same charge.

Alan Richardson, aged 43, of Windsock Close, South Dock Marina, south London; Alexander Duarte, aged 35, of Altmore Avenue, East Ham and Jarnail Singh, aged 28, of Victoria Avenue, East Ham, are each charged with two counts of conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Sexton and Dwight Peterson, aged 37, of Gavestone Terrace, Eltham, are charged with conspiracy to kidnap on or before April 19 last year.