£50,000 cocaine accused refused bail at Derry Court

A man charged in connection with the finding of a kilogram of cocaine in a van on the Foyle Bridge has been refused bail.

Aaron Andrew Drever (43) with an address at Drumadd Green in Armagh is charged with possessing cocaine with intent to supply on December 20 last year and a charge of possessing the drugs on the same date.

A police officer told the court that police stopped a white van on the Foyle Bridge and Drever was the passenger.

A package of cocaine was said to have been found valued at £50,000 but the officer said some of the packaging was similar to that on a drug shipment valued at £10 million found at Jonesboro in Armagh on December 11.

At interview the defendant made no comment or remained silent and refused to give police his PIN number for his phone.

Bail was opposed due to the risk of re-offending and the court heard that Drever had 87 previous convictions with 24 of them being drug related.

A defence barrister said that the co-accused had already been released on bail.

He asked for this defendant to be released to help his family.

Deputy District Judge Alan White said there was a risk of re-offending and refused bail.

Drever will appear again on April 22.