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12/06/2012
No Bail For Cocaine Haul Suspect
Cocaine with a total value of £6m was intercepted by police, the High Court heard yesterday.
Details of the operation came to light as one of three men charged over a large-scale drugs haul was refused bail.
Philip Devlin, 28, of Antrim Road, Belfast, faces charges of conspiracy to supply cocaine, and importing and possessing Class A drugs.
He was detained last month alongside Christopher Overend, 22, of Hillman Street, Belfast and Nigerian Abiodun Dahunsi, 35,of Mount Alverno, Ballymurphy.
Devlin’s charges relate to a three-kilo load of 82% pure cocaine sent by courier from Mexico, hidden in boxes of rechargeable batteries.
According to the prosecution, Overend collected the parcel before he and Devlin were arrested in the lower Ormeau area.
A second courier-delivered parcel was later sent from Latin America to the same address, carrying a further £4m-worth of 76% pure cocaine.
Devlin is not charged in connection with the second package but it was redirected to London and intercepted.
People have been arrested in connection with it, in an operation involving the Metropolitan Police, the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the PSNI.
A prosecution barrister said Devlin was "intrinsically linked" to an international criminal organisation.
But his defence lawyer Jon Paul Shields said his client had been used as a "patsy" and after being threatened at gunpoint he had agreed to pick up the drugs parcel for £1,000.
Mr Justice McLaughlin said: "Given the sheer scale, not just economically and financially, but globally, of this operation, it is quite clear this is not a case for bail."
(NE)
Details of the operation came to light as one of three men charged over a large-scale drugs haul was refused bail.
Philip Devlin, 28, of Antrim Road, Belfast, faces charges of conspiracy to supply cocaine, and importing and possessing Class A drugs.
He was detained last month alongside Christopher Overend, 22, of Hillman Street, Belfast and Nigerian Abiodun Dahunsi, 35,of Mount Alverno, Ballymurphy.
Devlin’s charges relate to a three-kilo load of 82% pure cocaine sent by courier from Mexico, hidden in boxes of rechargeable batteries.
According to the prosecution, Overend collected the parcel before he and Devlin were arrested in the lower Ormeau area.
A second courier-delivered parcel was later sent from Latin America to the same address, carrying a further £4m-worth of 76% pure cocaine.
Devlin is not charged in connection with the second package but it was redirected to London and intercepted.
People have been arrested in connection with it, in an operation involving the Metropolitan Police, the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the PSNI.
A prosecution barrister said Devlin was "intrinsically linked" to an international criminal organisation.
But his defence lawyer Jon Paul Shields said his client had been used as a "patsy" and after being threatened at gunpoint he had agreed to pick up the drugs parcel for £1,000.
Mr Justice McLaughlin said: "Given the sheer scale, not just economically and financially, but globally, of this operation, it is quite clear this is not a case for bail."
(NE)
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