PARIS — A Saudi prince went on trial in his absence in Paris yesterday, accused of being involved in a plot to use his private jet to smuggle $92 million of cocaine into Europe.

Prince Nayef al-Chaalan faces charges relating to his alleged participation in, or organization of, an operation to fly nearly 2 tons of the drug to an airfield six miles from Paris from Colombia.

He failed to appear at a preliminary hearing last month, citing “vital professional reasons,” and is liable to arrest under an international warrant.

The prince, who is not in line to the Saudi throne, was caught up in an investigation that began seven years ago when police seized 1,800 pounds of cocaine in a raid on a house in Noisy-le-Sec, on the northeastern fringe of Paris.

French and American investigators found a Saudi link for the drugs, which were allegedly destined for the Spanish and Italian markets.

The prince’s Boeing 727 was said to have been used to land the cocaine at Le Bourget airport outside the capital.

The inquiry led to what French observers have called a rare level of international cooperation among the drug enforcement authorities of France, Spain, Colombia, Switzerland, and America. The prince, who is defended by one of France’s best-known lawyers, Jacques Verges, also is wanted in Switzerland for alleged money laundering.

He denies any connection with the smuggling operation and says he is the victim of an American-inspired conspiracy.

In a recent interview he described the case against him as absurd and claimed that Colombian drug barons had reached a deal with the American authorities to drop charges against them in return for implicating “other smugglers real or imaginary.”