Four men appear in court after more than £1m of cocaine seized

Four men have been charged to court after police seized suspected cocaine with an estimated street value of between £1.12m and £1.68m in the greater Belfast area.

Brian McMullan, 34, Lee McKee, 26, Michael Moyes, 27, and Abdullah Hassan, 33, were arrested on Monday and Tuesday following the seizure of 14kg of suspected cocaine and herbal cannabis worth around £15,000.

All four men appeared at Belfast Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, charged with possession of Class A controlled drugs and possession of Class A controlled drugs with intent to supply.

Hassan has also been charged with possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.

A fifth man, aged 59, arrested earlier in relation to the seizure, has been released on bail to allow for further enquiries, police said.

On Wednesday, Belfast Magistrates' heard that police had observed suspected handovers at locations close to a block of flats on McAuley Street in Belfast.

McMullan, of Madrid Street in Belfast, is alleged to have left the building with a large bag before carrying out separate interactions with his co-accused in the area.

It was claimed that Moyes, of Stanhope Street, received a package containing five blocks of cocaine while he waited in a car.

The investigating detective said McMullan also passed a further three blocks into a van jointly occupied by McKee, of Alexandra Terrace in Crumlin, and Hassan, from St James' Crescent in Belfast.

Police subsequently stopped both vehicles, seized the drugs and arrested the four men.

Police found another six blocks of cocaine, one kilogram of herbal cannabis and a pressing machine during a search of the apartment allegedly linked to McMullan.

McMullan has also been charged with possessing Class B drugs with intent to supply in connection with the seizures.

Hassan faces a further count of having an offensive weapon, namely a baseball bat.

He told police that he works with McKee and unwittingly drove the van after his colleague asked for help on another job.

Hassan denied knowing the contents of the bag when it was handed into the vehicle.

Defence solicitor Andrew Russell told the court Hassan has never been in trouble before and fully cooperated with the investigation.

"He was entirely unsuspected on the way to this location," Russell told the court.

"This man is a 'clean skin' who didn't know he was being brought for that purpose."

Defence counsel for Moyes, Luke Curran, argued he was also unaware there was anything illegal about the bag he had been asked to collect.

Describing his client as a qualified electrician, Curran said: "His role is at the bottom rung as a courier, it is whether he was knowingly involved in a criminal offence."

McMullan's barrister, Michael Halleron, claimed he poses a minimal risk of re-offending because police would be monitoring all of the defendants' movements.

With McKee not seeking bail, District Judge Steven Keown refused bail for each of the co-accused and remanded all four men in custody until September 9.

Mr Keown said: "Based on the police case, this was a large-scale drugs operation, organised and involving a number of people handling approximately 14 kilos of cocaine worth between £1-2m, and the full extent is not yet known."