Drug dealing suspect '˜had lists of names with 66 customers'

Standing in the dock of Belfast Magistrates’ Court, 29-year-old Steven Hall faced four charges after police raided his Dunmurry home on Friday.

During an application for bail on Saturday, a police officer told the court that at 5.40pm on Friday, officers stopped a car being driven by the accused on Brooke Drive in west Belfast.

They searched it when they noticed a strong smell of cannabis coming from the vehicle, finding a plastic bag containing suspected herbal cannabis and white powder along with three mobile phones.

In follow-up searches police raided Hall’s home where they uncovered large bags of white powder totalling five kilos, 50 ecstasy pills, 10 packages of suspected herbal cannabis and two dealer lists with 66 names.

The officer added that the lists had values written beside the names for amounts between £20 and £5,250.

Digital weighing scales and £2,000 in cash were also seized at the property on Parkview in Dunmurry.

During interviews, Hall claimed he and friends had clubbed together to buy the cannabis in bulk for their own use.

He initially admitted dealing drugs to friends and said he believed the powder was a legal high but later retracted his statement, claiming instead that he didn’t know what it was and that a friend had given it to him to try.

Applying for bail, a defence solicitor told the court that Hall had been co-operative with police and made frank admissions about the drugs.

Hall had conceded that the money seized at his home was accumulated through dealing to friends and that the ecstasy was for his own personal use, and the solicitor added that his client has addiction problems.

District Judge George Conner released Hall on his own bail of £500, but said the money involved suggested it was more than just social dealing.

He also banned Hall from taking or possessing prescription drugs, using a mobile phone or travelling in a private vehicle and ordered him to report to police daily.

Hall is due to appear again on Tuesday.